' The Spirit of Mumbai.' 'Pray for Mumbai.' 'Today we are all Mumbaikars.' 'This is an attack on India's sovreignity.' 'A fitting and hard-hitting reply will be given.' 'Zero-tolerance.' 'Candlenight vigil.' 'Wear black for Mumbai.' 'Pray for our democracy.' 'Don't let the terrorists win.' .'Show them our way of life is resilient' . . . Enough with the recycled platitudes. Is there no one who wants to actually do something ??? Solve the damn problem so that no one else dies ?
What the hell was Narendra Modi (Gujarat CM) doing at the Oberoi ? And why the f$#% was he attacking the PM ? Doesn't he have the common sense to realize that he was disrupting a war-zone with his damn political game ? Why did he try to buy the good-will of India with a one crore donation to Hemant Karkare's family ? This is the same police officer who was threatened, villified and damned by him and his right-wing party two weeks ago for suggesting the existence of Hindu extremists.
Why the hell were Mumbai's police officers armed with 303s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-Enfield). What hope did they have against the SMGs and grenades that that the terrorists had ? Why didn't the NSG have Thermal mapping hardware to locate human beings in the buildings ? Jingoistic cries of ' Jai Hind' drown out any pragmatism. Forget the questions that need to be asked and answered, lets revel in the 'Spirit of Mumbai' and the 'Bravery of our Commandos/Armed Forces/Police Force.' Honing our praying/chanting skills so that we're better at recovering every single time. What the hell happened to being pro-active and preventing these attacks ? Or responding better next time ? SHUT UP !We're so busy feeling sorry for ourselves . . .
There's a rash of excessive jingoism,meaningless platitudes, tears and prayers in India today. Populist Pakistan bashing has found another avenue . . . hyper-nationalism and flag waving is the sad response to a systemic security failure. What India needs is a pragmatic and determined purging and replacement of a failed security and intelligence apparatus, what it gets is a few long weeks where it allows itself to wallow in self pity.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Mumbai . . .
It's now 7:55 AM in Mumbai 11/29 - 9:26 PM Eastern 11/28. Approximately 40 hours since Mumbai's nightmare began. Massive plumes of smoke have started to spew from the Taj Palace hotel. Ominous black smoke distorts the view of the dome of century old icon. CNN-IBN has just cut to pictures of the last rites of ATS head Hemant Karkare and I honestly can't take it anymore. It's probably the 5th time in the last 3 days that i've tried to exit the video stream on ibnlive.com and the 2nd time since the attacks began that I would like to succumb to the comfort of tears. The last time I resorted to muting the video and immersing myself in bharat-rakshak.com where I read about the awesome National Security Guards ('Black Cat Commandos') comforting myself that they would soon end this nightmare. This time I'm just going to pour it all out on this blog which I revisited for the first time in two months.
Accusations and theories reek the airwaves. Familiar names like Laskar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence - Pakistan's CIA) have been interspersed in between the live reports of gunshots, grenade explosions and deaths of India's finest policemen and commandos. The anger is obvious and apparent on the faces of everyone, every human being deserving of being called one is shocked and angry. ' We will fight back' is a common phrase along with ' The Spirit of Mumbai shall prevail.' Politicians talk about a strong response, stringent laws, experts and analysts predict dire consequences in foreign policy . . . the common man wonders if his or her loved ones will be next . . .
Those with religious convictions 'offer condolences and pray for the victims.' 'Pray' my friends, 'pray'. . . will you pray to the same God who these terrorists swear will give them 72 virgins in heaven for their 'martyrdom' ? For Whose jihad they kill us infidels ? Of course not, your religion (interpretation of religion) is peaceful and does not condone violence in any form. ' Whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Jain, Sikh . . . we are all together in condemning this attack.' Very well . . . who am I to argue with God's will, Allah's command, Karma, Fate, Destiny, the Circle of Life, edicts of Yahweh, the arrangment of the Stars, Kismet. . . you seem so sure what that means . . .
BREAKING NEWS - 8:46 AM Indian time. 10:17 PM EST on the previous day. The Director-General of the NSG announces that 3 terrorists have been killed in the Taj Palace Hotel. ' Our prayers are answered'. . . The only problem is so are theirs. . .
The fidayeen got what they wanted. More than 120 infidels died over the last 3 days. Mumbai was brought to it's knees, a sense of hopelessness prevails and perhaps India and Pakistan will assume the usual posturing and arguments about definitions of Attacks on the Innocent or Retaliation, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters, Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir . . .
Whose prayers will be answered next . . . and which Divine Being gets to be hold our species hostage tomorrow ? What platitudes will we use to describe the next tragedies ? Tune in ladies and gentlemen, this show will only end when there is no one left to watch. Better yet, why don't you pray for us all . . . prayers are always answered . . . one way or the other
Accusations and theories reek the airwaves. Familiar names like Laskar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence - Pakistan's CIA) have been interspersed in between the live reports of gunshots, grenade explosions and deaths of India's finest policemen and commandos. The anger is obvious and apparent on the faces of everyone, every human being deserving of being called one is shocked and angry. ' We will fight back' is a common phrase along with ' The Spirit of Mumbai shall prevail.' Politicians talk about a strong response, stringent laws, experts and analysts predict dire consequences in foreign policy . . . the common man wonders if his or her loved ones will be next . . .
Those with religious convictions 'offer condolences and pray for the victims.' 'Pray' my friends, 'pray'. . . will you pray to the same God who these terrorists swear will give them 72 virgins in heaven for their 'martyrdom' ? For Whose jihad they kill us infidels ? Of course not, your religion (interpretation of religion) is peaceful and does not condone violence in any form. ' Whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Jain, Sikh . . . we are all together in condemning this attack.' Very well . . . who am I to argue with God's will, Allah's command, Karma, Fate, Destiny, the Circle of Life, edicts of Yahweh, the arrangment of the Stars, Kismet. . . you seem so sure what that means . . .
BREAKING NEWS - 8:46 AM Indian time. 10:17 PM EST on the previous day. The Director-General of the NSG announces that 3 terrorists have been killed in the Taj Palace Hotel. ' Our prayers are answered'. . . The only problem is so are theirs. . .
The fidayeen got what they wanted. More than 120 infidels died over the last 3 days. Mumbai was brought to it's knees, a sense of hopelessness prevails and perhaps India and Pakistan will assume the usual posturing and arguments about definitions of Attacks on the Innocent or Retaliation, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters, Jammu and Kashmir or Azad Kashmir . . .
Whose prayers will be answered next . . . and which Divine Being gets to be hold our species hostage tomorrow ? What platitudes will we use to describe the next tragedies ? Tune in ladies and gentlemen, this show will only end when there is no one left to watch. Better yet, why don't you pray for us all . . . prayers are always answered . . . one way or the other
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