India on the other hand has the misfortune of being surrounded by failed or nearly-failed states all around
- Pakistan in the west
- Afghanistan in the north-west
- Nepal in the north-east
- Bangladesh in the east
- Sri Lanka in the south
That is a tough ask. So unless we impose a war-like situation in the country and curb most of economic activity, it is difficult to have total control of the security situation.
However, that does not absolve our leaders (bah!) from their duty to the nation. There are lot of things we can do.
For starters show some spine:
Look at Manmohan Singh's address to the nation - where is the firmness in the voice? His tone was almost of complaining nature and apologetic, not of a man in control. I would have liked to see some spine here.
Look at the other clown, Home Minister Mr. Patil, who during the last terrorist incident, had time to change his outfit to make it more television friendly. Mr. Patil please remember a home-minister is not a TV idol!!! I heard him on BBC last night, his sound bytes sounded like a spokesman and not a man in charge...'errr I have been told.... err they did .hmm this...'
Mr. Patil - How do you even sleep at night? Do a favor to the nation, QUIT!!! This is a time when the political parties should come together to rally the nation and not squabble, but I would make an exception here, everyone should demand Mr. Patil's scalp.
I demand a change here. We need strong focus on internal security. We need young blood, we have too many old hags at the helm of the nation. Its time the young leadership takes over, learn from US and Obama. More importantly we need people with strong commitment to the nation.
Today politics is criminalised, I am afraid there is also political involvement in operations of this kind, and of course the bane of corruption, which goes beyond all scruples. I find it very hard to believe that our intelligence (another paradox!) did not have any idea about an operation of this scale. If I was an investigator in charge, I would make sure to scan through the hotel guest lists over past few months, with special focus on current guest list. I think some of these terrorists were already in the hotel as checked-in guests. Worth taking a look.
Intelligence and Security Infrastructure:
I am not privy to any information to comment on our security/intelligence infrastructure, but we should look to collaborate more and more with US and Israel agencies to learn from them. Use whatever technologies needed to gather information, and most important, have mechanisms in place to bloody act on the information gathered. I heard in news reports that there was strong indication that the Taj could be attacked and there was strong police cover for the Taj, which was relaxed recently because it started causing traffic snarls! Inexplicable!
How did these people manage to come through the sea route as it is claimed. Are our seas so porous? Is it that easy?
Are our police equipped with the latest weapons?
Crisis Management Doctrine:
This crisis again laid open our lack of planning and inability to react in time. No one looked in control, and still does not. We need to have strong mechanism in place to react to such events. It was sadly not seen, it took 10 hours for the commando team to reach the Taj. Till some top cops were killed, Mumbai Police did not understand the gravity of the situation and did not feel fit to call in the commandos! And I learn they were brought to the site in a BEST bus!! Shameful.
But, I will kid myself to believe for now that some one is in charge and has control of the situation. I doubt it, but it calms me down.
I want to see some one in charge
We should also make sure we continue our no-negotiations policy with the terrorists. I wonder if any contact has been established with them and if they have any demands. There should be no negotiations. I still hang my head in shame when in 1998 our foreign minister escorted a dreaded terrorist to Afghanistan in exchange for our hijacked plane.
Why are people who attacked the Parliament still in jail and not dead yet? We need stringent anti-terrorism laws, there will be noises around human rights abuse, but we need these laws and someone with the guts to implement them
I shudder to think what would happen in case of a nuclear attack or things like that. Among other things, are our nuclear establishments safe? What is safe for that matter? Given the recent nuclear deal with US, there could be an attempt to attack our nuclear establishments.
And why are we giving sound bytes on what's happening out there. Would not the terrorists want to know too? Why are we feeding them that information? Keep it under wraps.
Stock Markets:
This blog started with the intention of blogging on economy and stock markets. Given the happenings in our country, talking about stock markets and money seems too petty and irrelevant. But for what its worth, I think its pretty clear Indian Hotels is going to sink when the markets open (people will vote with their wallets and not emotions). I am a shareholder too, but I don't mind the loss. For me, its much more than a few thousand rupees. My full support to Tatas in rebuilding the hotel.
It would be a good idea to review all short positions in the stock markets, esp. hotel stocks, there might have been an attempt to finance this act through stock market operations
However, this is definitely going to affect foreign investments. In addition to direct economic factors like fiscal deficit, exchange rate, or even bureaucracy and corruption, additional parameter would start coming into play - that of internal security - risk premium on India-linked investments would go up. I am afraid there is a strong danger of India as a country going under long period of instability. Its scary!
Where do we go from here?
Immediate: Aim would be to get situation in control and put this behind us, however that still seems will take some doing. I don't think this crisis will be over so soon. I feel there are some more sinister plans behind this operation (I hope not, fingers crossed). We will be tested! Hostage situation still has to play itself out, and god knows if all the terrorists have been accounted for. Having apparently done so much planning till now, its hard to believe that it would get over soon. As days go by, I am sure more and more appalling horror stories of serious lapses are going to unfold. How well will the media and public take those lapses?
I wonder how they can separate genuine hotel guests and terrorists when they carry out the rescue. What if they 'rescue' terrorists?
Later: There is a danger we are all becoming callous and live from one event to the next. I think we are wrongly classifying it as strength of the nation, spirit of the nation. This too will be classified that way. That's bullshit. I think its callousness and stark reminder that we have lost faith in our leaders and everything linked with the government. We, the public, should stand up and start demanding action, credible actions. I heard a very interesting point raised on cnn. The person said people have pent up anger inside them, in normal cases it would have been released by torching a few buses etc, but that's not happened. How is that anger and frustration going to come out? If channeled properly, it can only help us. Media has the power to channelise this, and its time they stood up and be counted.
I do hope this does not lead to more clashes between Hindus and Muslims, there is increasing polarization among these communities, and such event would not help matters. National security and religion will become strong issues in the national elections, likely that economy could now become a distant third issue. I dread how parties like Shiv Sena and BJP/RSS are going to exploit this. Last thing we need is a more polarized India at this stage.
However if focus on national security results in one single party coming to power (even if it is not congress), I think its good the country. Enough of coalition politics. But will other political parties offer a credible alternative? (Jaswant Singh's act of escorting terrorists to Afghanistan was not exactly an act of bravery)
I also fear for Goa, which is also a coastal state, how far has the rot gone?
It has been my long term dream to contribute to social awareness and fight bureaucracy and corruption in whatever way possible in my country. Those things I can try and fight, but matters concerning nation's security, unfortunately, are beyond me. Why don't we hand over the home ministry to the US or the Israelis?
I am really hurt and angry! I am willing to consider any credible ideas to take action as a concerned citizen. Any ideas?
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