Big terror Show...............!!!

Ten determined and well trained terrorists were able to hold 18 million people in the city to ransom, and not even the entire power of the Indian State, including the NSG, were able to save many of the hostages that the terrorists took. It is still a mystery why the terrorists did it though there are hints that Pakistan may be trying to bring India to its knees by terrifying people in the financial capital. We’ll be getting more such terror strikes unless the government has a crack commando force 24x7 in Mumbai and all major cities.

Financially it will mean a huge cost but in relation to an unguarded city it is nothing. What has happened to the Coast Guard which used to be so very active during the smuggling days? We never hear of them any more. I would like to make some positive suggestions to the impotent powers that be!

* Our intelligence network needs to be beefed up. The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has got to have more personnel with better pay.
* Does the coast guard have enough boats and men? Today, protecting our land borders is second priority compared to installing a mechanism that will stop terrorism before it begins. For this we need a Homeland Security Agency headed by the most experienced military man we have. It must be funded and made operational on a top-priority basis.
* Our police officers, who go into terror confrontation, need the kind of bullet-proof amour that the NSG has, along with updated AK-47s.
* Important as the above, we must have streamlined Hospital emergency services. Some of the scenes we saw on TV about the neglect of victims were shocking.
* Most important we need a team of trained hostage negotiators. There was no attempt at negotiations with the terrorists, neither through loud speakers nor through the public address system of the Taj Mahal Hotel.
* I don’t see much ideation on handling terrorism. Why don’t we join a worldwide terror brainstorm?
* Why has the US not had any attack after 9/11? It has a shoreline like ours, with the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans on either side. It has a porous border with Mexico. So how did they manage not to have another strike? Why should we re-invent the wheel when other countries have fool-proof anti-terrorist systems? Top RAW officers could exchange views with Israel for instance, which is operating a crack anti-terrorist system.
* In all major hotels and public places we must have anti-terrorist drills like the fire drills. We are fully unprepared for internal terror attacks by groups who feel the State has wronged them... and can’t even cope with local goondas!
* Another pragmatic suggestion: I think surely some creative scientist could invent a sleeping gas which could be lobbed into hiding places of terrorists, like tear gas. Isn’t it amazing that man can travel to the moon, create an artificial heart and yet not invent sleeping gas?

The city was unprepared. It only knew about bomb attacks. It has never known an attack with guns spraying people with bullets. Shooting is more personal that bombing. Shooting creates fear psychosis and causes panic, even paralysis. This was for the first time that terror was brought into our living rooms in real time. Like Operation Desert Storm was the first TV war for the US, this attack has brought a highly dramatic, blood and gore event into our homes through television. But I hope that with strong preventive measures we will never again see another Terrorist Reality Show.