Today is day three of the siege of Mumbai. It started the night before yesterday, and it continues until this morning. Two of the nicest hotels in Mumbai have become a war zone, and a Jewish community center is being raided by commandos. I am watching it right now from the James Bond room at My Caffee Latte, Thursday morning.
It is horrible, and the details we have now is that young men came in from Pakistan on boats and surgically hit sites around Mumbai. They knew where they were going, they knew what they were doing - and they knew that it is very easy to penetrate the security apparatus of Indian hotels and other sites.
In some ways India is a sitting target. Politicians seek to score political points against each other in terms of who is more effective and ineffective against terrorism instead of fighting the problem aggressively. The intelligence agencies must be entirely asleep at the wheel if this could happen. And one scene shown on film here shows terrorists that seized a police van and were driving around in it while shooting into the people on the streets. That speaks volumes about crisis response - perhaps the only thing the Mumbai police contributed to the fight against the terror event was the contribution of their cars to the gunmen.
Various people have different opinions. Many people are upset with the intelligence and security communities. How could they not be? Others mention Pakistan. Moments ago, a Gujarati politician named Mohdi just gave a speech (in Hindi, I followed it) that implicated Pakistan. He is involved with stoking Hindu fundamentalist sentiments which has lead to churches being burned in recent months, as well as intense violence against Muslims in his state.
The implication of Pakistan was also done over breakfast yesterday by a colleague from work. In my mind, there is almost certainly some link there, but that is also the knee-jerk reaction of India everytime something bad happenes here. Hard to say what is really at work here....
One thing to note - on 9/11, life in the US ground to a halt. I would also think if gunmen raided hotels and restaurants in Manhattan tomorrow, the country would still largely grind to a halt and watch it in shock. But here, life continued. There were meetings about this, everyone was talking about it, and we had a Thanksgiving at our home. But it was largely an ordinary day for everyone. Except the security guys out front checked the trunk of my car, which they will stop doing in a week or two. I think that people learn to carry on in spite of these things. This is both understandable, and it is also part of the problem. The extraordinary has now been accepted as ordinary, in some ways.
For those of us in different companies, we had visitors in Mumbai, and thousands of associates who live and work in Mumbai. Many of our colleagues slept at the office last night, unable to go home. Most activities were shut down all day. One cousin of a young guy who works at our office was shot and killed. Another visitor from Europe was trapped inside the hotel, a friend was tracking the event via his BlackBerry last night during our meal. So, it is close to us, even if we are far away from the actual events.
Of interest is that a few Muslim friends I speak with imply that this is the doings of the government, to spread discord between communities and score political points. This perspective pisses me off more each time I hear it, but I have yet to lay into any of them directly. They have a right to their opinion.
At a personal level, this hit home in a way that others did not. These guys were looking for Americans and Britons. They were doing so in a city where I spend a great deal of time. They were looking for people like me in places like those where I stay in Mumbai. It, honestly, makes this a very different terror event. Not that any others were less horrible - it's just that this one feels like it has more to do with us directly.
This will not a be a good thing for India. If you follow the blog at all, you know how we feel about India. It is fundamentally a good land filled with great people who live in incredible circumstances. But the fact that this element lives in the midst of India, and next to India, and are not tracked or managed in an effective manner by those from India who are changed with fighting terrorism - it is discouraging, to say the least.
For those of us who are managing to carry on in spite of the fact that we have become the focus of terrorists - good for us. For those, like the sniper and commandos who are raiding these places in front of my eyes, who fight this day to day with such bravery - thank you. For the politicians who are asleep at the wheel and will seek to make political gains on this - stay out of the way. You have failed. To the Indian people, and the foreigners in their midst, let's continue to work together to fight back against these evil people.
And for those of you living behind a high degree of security compared to the rest of the world - please remember that we need to stay vigilant. May we continue to find allies in the fights against these people and eventually destroy them. And may we focus on the right fight in coming years.
Pray for a rapid end to all of this.
