I am somewhere a firm believer of terrorist attacks being diversionary tactics by vested interests.
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And in this case what I find most strange is that the ATS Chief Hemant Karkare himself should be shot dead. Should it not be the case that the Chief’s do the strategising and are shielded from the first line of fire? Is there a connection between his probes into the Malegaon blasts and his death? Was the primary motive of the attacks killing him? Maybe he knew or had inferred some unpleasant stuff from the probe? All the hostage drama and lobbing of grenades at various places could just be the fluff over the main fruit?
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If such would be the case who would have coordinated it all? Who stood to gain or loose from the way the Malegaon blasts probe was heading.
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While the news is that all the terrorists are Pakistani’s it could very well be the case of these guys being mercenaries? These need not be proper terrorist outfits or state sponsored (Pakistan in this case). Is it difficult to get mercenaries to do something of this sort? Most certainly not.
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What about the regular vigil that should be maintained by police and the intelligence. Anybody who knows Colaba well can talk about the extensive illegal activities that go on absolutely normally. Drugs, prostitution, foreigners who over stay their visas. Go towards the Radio Bhuvan backend, near the Appollo Bunder and you get a distinct feeling that things are willingly not in control of the police. Getting in a boat there with guns and grenades and mercenaries shouldn’t be that difficult.
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What about the illegal slums which have been coming up all over the Backbay Depot on top of mangroves. The Collectors office after repeated representations cant do a thing about it. The Revenue Minister Narayan Rane’s name keeps coming in the land scam behind World Trade Center. A breakdown in governance in one area is bound to have an impact on other areas. All the well heeled and the powerful in the area who hob nob with the CMs of the world turn a silent ear to all the regular wrong that goes on. Like Rudi Guilliani would have said about controlling crime in NY – when visible small acts of law-breaking go unnoticed then it emboldens people for bigger acts.
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The less said about the armed forces occupying land at the tip the better. Most of the armed forces give me the picture of having a merry time at a prime, very beautiful part of the city. The United Services Club seems to be besieged with groupism and allegations of corruption about its running.
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If one were to go into the details of the illegal and clearly uncalled for activities in the area starting from Musuem till Lands End, and the brazen manner in which they flourish then one would realise that the 26Nov08 is not so surprising.
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This is also what happens when the police and intellegence has to be more involved with VIP movements, security to politicans and saving the city from the MNS’s of the world.
Rishi 
Hey Rishi
Lovely post. You have the nail on the head. I completely agree with you. I want to ask the Thackerays of the world that today when the marathi manoos is being targetted where are they. Are the cops who are in the line of fire not sons of the soil. Why is there no MNS no SS or any other party doing anything for those who are innocently dying? They are all fucking hypocrites. All they can do is yell and scream and create confusion but when the time comes to do some real deed all the bastards are hiding in their holes. When I first heard of Hemant Karkare’s death and the fact that he was involved in the Malegaon blast investigation, I had the same thoughts running. Honestly, what if Pakistan has nothing do with the blasts? What if it is the handiwork of our own guys? How is it that a dinghy boat crosses international waters and enters our waters and the navy doesn’t take note of it? Somehow things aren’t falling in place.
Conspiracy theroies , involving the hands of major indian political parties in the recent bomb blasts, without any iota of evidence is only going to activate the neurotransmitters of all the paranoid and schezophrenic crime-thriller aspirants in this country.
Beginnning without formalities.
1. I got to hear from many that the maachhimaar folks saw the boat, the people getting off it, with haversacks, asked them, were told they were students, .. now these fisherfolk told the police , but were told ‘tu tuze kaam kar’. It seems the fisherfolk talked of this on TV.
2. Our media people ,right fr hour one, were spoiling the activities of the police, army and commandos. When our personnel are hiding, ready for attack, media show them and also tell abt their moves.
3. Also, i think, its time, rather HIGH TIME to leave attacking our brethren like UPites, or Christians, etc and attck terrorists. where r the gundaas now?
4. Use them, call them out, and take them there to fight the terrorists. Numbers do matter. so this will help. Things got to be done. Mumbai is tolerant, but people who hav taken the brunt, cant forget.
5. Pray.!
cant think of anything more right now.
Hi rishi,
After working with you.. Seeing you looking at situation and writing on it. These are very right points that you brought in to notice.
Nobody knows after 3 days what going where.. ??
Till the time investigation gets over. We wont get the true pictures..
lets hope for the peace
bhavisha
There is an urgent need of act/law against terrorism the way other EU and US country have.
Rishi,
A few quick observations first:
a) I am no expert, however i assume guarding the borders of a country like ours, with such multiple issues (populaiton, diversity, large coast, mountainous borders, unstable neighbors all round, etc.) is no easy task.
b) However form the demonstration of the first 12 hours, it is amply clear that the internal security of our country (police, ATS) are totally incompetent. The mere fact that 3 senior officers can be killed within hours of the start is proof itself. Note also the 10 hr delay in barricading the ‘war’ zones.
The root of the problem Rishi is politics. It is the cause of curroption of our society. In every sphere of our lives, this breed of SOB’s have perpetrated adulteration of our values. The police force is a glaring example of a potentially robust organization that has been eaten away from within and left totally impotent. We as civic activists see and struggle against this daily, now it is there for the world to see! Thus the solution once again brings us back to what JP at Loka Satta is proposing. We MUST reform politics and instill into it the highest values of commitment to society, only then can we expect society itself to improve. And for this WE must act and let the ghastly images of these days not be forgotten like all others are in the guise of “spirit of mumbai”! Regards…
dear rishi u r right but it is unfortunate that our over enthusiastic media people how wrong things at wrong times they show crying people & readying cops whih led to the killing of those brave police officers . he is great .
Dear Rishi,
My thoughts exactly about the ATS chief…in the begining I was very sure that this is just Abhinav Bharat and the likes’ way of removing attention from them to something more gory! Then within hours connections to pakistan and within a day people have come up with a whole concocted story (or so it seems) on who, what, why, where…also claiming that everyone was aware that such an attack was in the pipeline. I don’t understand, do they think the aam-janta are a pack of fools?
Yes the NSG maybe incompetant to deal with the terrorists…but I think the primary focus should have been to remove hostages, which has almost been completed though with endless casualities…
I read this last night… http://blogs.livemint.com/blogs/last_24_hours/archive/2008/11/28/how-a-wedding-reception-turned-into-a-life-lesson.aspx
It read like the moment in the film Dark Knight when you wait for either of those ferries to blast and neither do out of sheer humanity… this blog tells me besides all this terror there is so much humanity and humility among people! This is what I think they call the ‘Bombay Spirit’!
well i do not think that things are all that clear regarding the ATS chief. There is however a threat on the life of Peter Lobo who is aloso associated with the inquiry if the malegaon blasts. hope that he does not meet the same fate.
It is possible that these are real terrorist but the fact that the Malegaon and Surat connections point to the weakening of the one national establishment that seemed invincible, the army. I also find that it is funny that the Lt Col. involved in the blasts at Malegaon is working against his own countrymen to satisfy a lobby that does not have the good of the nation at heart but claims to do so.
rajan barrett
The death of Hemant karkare has shocked everyone…This was a man of honour and courage. Who else puts their life on the line for a nation??? He will ALWAYS be remembered. Unfortunately, in TRUE indian style, he will be recognized AFTER his death…..such a pity. It will take our nation aeons to get our act together…
I have paid him my respects on a tribute that has been created in his honour.
https://chalbasey.com/hemant-karkare/stories/a-salute-to-a-brave-man
wel i totally agree wit u guys. And i really feel there should be CBI enquiry for the same. Atleast it will make picture a bit clear. One more thing this media should really be more sensible about what questions they ask to ppl. Infact it should try to find the truth behind the situation. As per knowledge more than 30 terrorist had enetered in mumbai for this operation and till now v hv only got news of hardly 15-17 terrorist who got killed in encounter what bout the remaining?? where are they? are they still roamin in mumbai freely?