Its 26/11/2013 today. Exactly 5 years ago on this day, Mumbai faced the worst urban terrorist attack in the history of mankind. 10 terrorists were let loose who held the city ramsom for three days. For three days, India became the butt of jokes the world over. For three days, the global media converged upon the Taj and brought into out homes dastardly images. For three days, we were reminded that we were not safe with all our defense mechanisms, our intelligence agencies. When all the terrorists had been killed ( at a considerable human cost to our side with many fine officers killed), the shit hit the fan and flew around. Claims and counter-claims ensued. There were blame games galore. We could see so-called officials and intellectuals on television channels, arguing as to why the whole incident happened. Five years down the line we need to ask ourselves. Are we safe today anymore than we were 5 years back? Has the coordination between our various agencies improved? Have our police been issued state of the art arms? How can we expect our policemen to fight urban terrorism when they are not trained and equipped properly. Then ATS chief Hemant Karkare was killed because his bullet-proof jacket was of sub-standard quality and the bullet pierced it easily. When this is the case of the ATS chief, what to talk of the ordinary soldier who is provided with, hold your breath, stick. Tukaram Ombale, who took on Ajmal Kasab was not even armed. He had to take several bullets in his stomach from Kasabs AK-47 before he was caught. Are we ready to take on an enemy who is well trained, who is ready to ignore pain and sleep (remember, the 10 terrorists holed in the Taj were fighting for 3 days continuously without sleep). The sad, true and hopeless answer to all these questions is a big no? Today, we will see the pics of all the martyrs being circulated on social media platforms, we will feel sad. Some minister somewhere will hold some function where the family members of the martyrs will be called and asked to recount their life story. The channels will keep the issue running throughout the day. However, inspite of all this, the question remains, are we ready to tackle the scourge that is urban terrorism? Are we? we need to ask this question over and over again, to ourselves and to the powers who govern us.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 05:38:38 +0000
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