Remembering 26/11 – the Mumbai Terror Attacks
Tomorrow is the first death anniversary of those who died in the Mumbai Terror Attacks. A reader sent me this video, produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Dan Reed which I thought worth posting here. Clicking on the link will take you to the video.
Reed has done a brilliant job. Without saying it in so many words he has shown the terror and helplessness of innocent people, the ineptness of the police response, the crazed minds of the cold blooded killers who contaminated and bruised our Indian soil. He has also showed the VT attack in a fair amount of detail. He has not blamed or told. He has just shown – like any good filmmaker would.
What amazed me while watching the video was the number of times the gunmen talked of “God”. In almost every sentence they uttered God’s name. And it sent a chill through me to hear the Pakistani handlers urging the gunmen to kill while the telephone was on so that they could hear the shots and the screams. The handlers and the killers should all be in a mental asylum, locked up forever, given food only through a hole. No living thing should ever touch these “its”. Locked up not to seek revenge, but simply because this much evil needs to be locked up so that it doesn’t harm any other living thing. These killers are not human. As Kasab says, his instructions were to kill at anything that moved, all people. Just people.
This is not a new video, but I had not seen it before. And if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a see. It encapsulates the Mumbai attacks quite well without moralising, without too much gore, and the Police Dispatches reveal what actually happened, “hour by hour, from the perspective of the security forces, the terrorists, their masterminds and the victims”.
It is tragic that today, one year after 26/11, the names of the people responsible for procuring defective bullet proof jackets for the police are not known. Which politician and policeman made the deal? And even one year after 26/11 we do not know the names of those who were responsible for the confusion in the Mumbai police force at the time. No one took charge. After one year are we any closer to knowing WHO is responsible?
All that we know is that the Chief Minister of Maharashtra at the time Vilasrao Deshmukh was kicked upstairs, given a plum job for his “loyalty” to the party. RR Patil, the Home Minister got his job back, and as for the top cops, the bickering and the blame game goes on…
So many died in vain, but not a single person has taken responsibility for the carnage. We need to mourn the dead, but we also need to ask for the answers. It is the top cops and the politicians who are to blame. For the lack of coordination and action. It is really pathetic and in really bad taste to see television channels blast the foot soldiers. Try and shame those poor unequipped men who had rifles that were rusted, men who ran helter skelter because they had no leader to direct them. Men who weren’t even sure where the terrorists were, how many there were, what they were up to. Even in these circumstances there was a poor man called Tukaram Omble who grabbed Kasab’s machine gun with his bare hands and took the bullets. Facing an enemy with proper weapons, proper armour, and a proper leader may require bravery, but facing an enemy without any of these things means heroism of a superhuman kind. The foot soldiers in Mumbai had nothing. If some of them ran, let us not blame them.
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Trackbacks
- Global Voices Online » India Remembers Horiffying Mumbai Terror Attacks
- India Remembers Horrifying Mumbai Terror Attacks :: Elites TV
- Kamla Bhatt Blog » Books, Movies, Music, Televison Bombay/Mumbai Global Voices India People » Round-Up: Remembering 26/1 Mumbai Attack
- Remembering 26/11 – the Mumbai Terror Attacks « A wide angle view … < Read what Young Indians Read
A wide angle view of India 
I feel we are still where we were before 26/11..same squabbles over region, language, same inefficiency and same disrespect for life of the citizens. 😦
Reema, I don’t think we are where we were. Things have improved. I firmly believe it. Its just that the guilty need to be punished. – Nita
I agree with Reema. After all India is India.
It’s not by chance that after 9/11 there has been no terrorist attack in the US. They spruced up their intelligence and are now a match for terrorist plotting. We will never do it that way. We all know that more terror attacks will happen in India. Is any of us confident that India has spruced up intelligence to ward off such attacks, and that the police and our politicians will act with alacrity in the case of one?
We are after all a country where Raj thackery can attack and kill innocent people in railway stations and manhandle men in the LA. And we know he will continue unreined, don’t we?
India is India, thats true, and we are much slower and less efficient than the US, true, but I think we cannot compare ourselves with the US. For one thing we have terrible neighbours, we have porous borders, we are a poor country, our enemies look a lot like us and can mingle, speak the same language and so on. Plus we have a varied culture, with different ethnic groups and religions who are intrinsic to the land. Sure, some of these things we are to blame, but for some things we have no choice. It is harder for India than it is for the US. – Nita
The US is larger than India and has a large enough ethnic and religious diversity of its own. I don’t see that the problem was less hard for the US – which is an even bigger target for terrorists than India is.
Aren’t we to blame for our ‘terrible’ neighbours? Haven’t we hated Pakistan as much as Pakistan has hated us? And I rarely meet a middle class Indian who does not hate muslims. But the point is no matter how hard it is, it can be done – India can be made a safer place that it is today.
That it is not a surprise that india had experienced many terror attcks prior to 9/11 because the Americans were funding the extremist elelment of pakistani society and also fudning wahaabi idielogy by keeping the saudis in power! lets not be naive about the occurences which led to indias enemy being well funded! And due to 9/11 every hindu mulim and sikh in the US is subjected to unfair treatment and the threat of violence, just liekthe number of attacks on asians in the UK prior to 9/11! Hindu and muslim have lived together now and prior to the british invasion, divide and conquer and the promotion of hostilities between india and pakistan has been heavily propmoted by the USA. for the same reason britain and russia used afghanistan and what US is doing there now. this is not about terror groups because these groups hvae their genesis in the halls of the pentagon!
I am hindu and have soem very very close mulsim friends and my son godfather is mulim, my nephew is married to a muslm girl!
it is ‘their’ god! if ‘he’ does not intervene to correct them they would continue to think they are on the right path.
Such a tragedy, that 26/11 happened and after a year, we know nothing more than what we knew at the end of it. Nothing has changed and if another attack of that sort were to happen – we might have the same reactions..
‘Facing an enemy with proper weapons, proper armour, and a proper leader may require bravery, but facing an enemy without any of these things means heroism of a superhuman kind. The foot soldiers in Mumbai had nothing. If some of them ran, let us not blame them.’ – From what is evident – this remains the same.. The foot soldiers even today have nothing to fight with.. Such a tragedy..
Smitha, I personally do not think that nothing is changed. 26/11 did change the attitude of a lot of people. Things are better now than they were before. The public hue and cry has made the MH government order better weapons and the like for eg, and some teams have been set up, nsg in MH for eg. And yes the reactions would be the same, but then life goes on.
both sides showed adequate faith. bravery on the part of unseasoned children who came to attack india based on a concept and even bigger bravery on the part of unarmed indian policemen who belong to a country of coffin thieves!
cynicism eh vasudev? – Nita
I remember last year on 26.11 both of us were awake late at night deeply disturbed, conversing through your blog. The pictures of smoke coming out of the windows of Taj are still vivid in my mind. I don’t know if I will be able to forget them ever.
R R Patil is back on job and today the way Chagan Bhujbal was talking about him it seems that not much has changed. The time taken to form a govt in Maharashtra even after the results were declared was disappointing. More than the Congress I blame the NCP for this. Sharad Pawar has messed up the Agriculture Ministry completely, he seems to be more interested in Cricket than Agriculture. The Saffron parties are playing violent and divisive games. Nothing seems to be going right for Maharashtra at the moment. I wish and pray good sense prevails in our politicians and Maharashtra becomes the pride of India once again.
Prerna, I was just checking my spam mailbox and found your comment. I wonder why it went into spam!
And yes you are right in your observations Prerna, but I do believe that things have improved. At least Deshmukh fellow is not the CM anymore. About MH becoming the pride of India, well lets hope that all states become that! 🙂 I always feel that people who live outside MH give more importance to the saffron brigade than the ones who live here. I think this is in part due to the sensationalist reporting. People in MH, even many north indians believe that right wing parties will have a limited growth. Right wing parties never last lon term. See what happened to the BJP when it tried. Temporarily they went up. Now they are struggling to get a moderate image. The majority of Indians are moderate therefore right wingers will have their own little fiefdom. If they are being allowed to run havoc, believe me the Congress is playing a game, a game to stab the SS.
We never learned… And we will never learn from our mistakes… If our govt learned it then mumbai attack wont be happened as, as many as 10 attacks were happened before that in 2008… Not able to see the video now… Will check once i get back to my home…
Kanagu, we do learn, although slowly. The mumbai attack was very unusual and I think now we are better prepared. I am in fact sure of it. Not as well as some other countries would be, but yes better prepared. – Nita
Its an absolute indictment on India’s identity as a potntial global player, to our sovereignty and a stark symbol of our leaders’ lack of ability to protect the citizens, that the 26/11 saga has still not reached any semblance of justice or redemption for the victims.
That the Pakistan Army / ISI was involved in master-minding and coordinating the 26/11 event was ridiculously apparent from day 1. That India has, for whatever reason, not been able to put sufficient pressure on Pak to publicly acknowledge involvement is just a pitiful reminder of India’s real position as an inconsequential pawn in the global geopolitical game, where the USA has self-serving agendas, and Pak has constantly been spinning a massive web of deceit, subterfuge, lies and meaningless hollow commitments to aid the US in the war against terror, all with the simple unnerving aim of continuing to receive billions in financial & military aid. After all, with enough reserves in the state coffers to last for only 2-4 weeks, the Pak treasury has NO choice but to depend on US aid.
That this murderer Kasab has not been convicted, and is kept alive at an officially disclosed (the real amount is probably far higher) of INR 30 cr….is ridiculous and pathetic and deeply indicative of India’s absolute failure to take command of the situation and deploy swift and just legal/criminal action. This is a slap in the face of every victim of this tragedy, a kick in the groin of every family in india that has ever been affected by the numerous terrorist attacks in India since independence.
One really does begin to tire of Pak and the enormous misery this rogue/failed state has brought to the Indian system. One begins to question why the Indian political/diplomatic/military machine has not stepped up efforts to make more clear to the global stage, how decadent, endemically corrupt, manipulative and religiously fundamentalist the Pak identity really has become. One also wonders why the US public, political circuit and media has not yet realised the magnitude of the façade staged by pak. Or is it that the US powers to be are all too well aware of the Pak manipulations, but find that funding the Pak coffers via aid is a more palatable alternative to the Pak army/ISI letting loose some of the ingrown terrorist factions to do all sorts of planned attacks globally, or even sell some of Pak’s nuclear capabilities/assets/technology/materials to renegade groups or rogue nations.
phantom, yes ofcourse Pakistan is a huge problem. The US fears that a pakistan isolated will be worse than a pakistan befriended. In this scenario, India is suffering. However where Kasab is concerned, I am thankful that he has not managed to commit suicide and he has not escaped! – Nita
I seriously doubt if we learnt any lessons. Reconstruction of the attacks by experts in the west showed how the terrorist handlers in Pakistan benefited from the live telecast, prologing civilian agony. There must have been a control room in Pakistan following all our news channels. Security personnel need to be trained not to talk to media if such an event recurs (heavens forbid).
maald, I feel that things have improved. In India we tend to learn after the event…or rather after many events! Each tragedy makes us improve a little. Just a little. – Nita
You are wrong Nita. If India learned after the event, we would not have a great problem on our hands. But India never cares enough to learn.
I remember while building the overhead rail system in Chennai (that went on for many years), concrete blocks from above fell on three occasions on cars passing below and there were deaths and injuries. And yet it happened twice again. Nobody cares. Nothing is set right.
Anybody reading our newspapers is used to certain routine news items. Among them children falling into bore wells, and manholes. Families committing mass suicide regularly. I don’t believe we will ever close our manholes, or regulate safety around borewells….that’s because we are India.
No, no, India is improving definitely. Yeah, children still do fall into borewells and uncovered manholes but we are a better nation (in terms of safety and protection) than what we were a few years ago.
Yes, we do things slowly and don’t learn our lessons promptly but change is happening. Govt.officials are more responsive and efficient (from my admittedly limited interaction with them). Awareness levels are increasing. Many people (even those from rural India) are not ready to put up with shit anymore which is a very good sign for any civil society.
Am I the only one who feels this way…
rags, now the television media is reporting live this falling into borewells. Do we know how many fell into the borewells before it started being reported? Our media has now become hyperactive in reporting these incidents and this gives the impression that our nation is going to the dogs. It is sad, but positive news is not reported enough. Sensationalism and negativism is what the media thrives on.
nita..the thieves and nincompoops are on their toes now thanks to negative reporting. (not cynicism but truth)
I was referring to this news item in the newspapers, not on television and there’s never been any hype about it. It’s very factual; the headline being ‘child falls into borewell and the news item is always small with just the bare facts. I’ve been reading about this and about children and manholes ever since I started reading newspapers – a couple of decades ago. Can we really say ‘oh stop talking about this! Can’t we talk about the positive things around us’?
Lakshmi, I don’t think anyone said stop talking. You are welcome to air your views here! This is an open forum and all views are welcome. In fact I love hearing different views, that is what adds spice to the discussion! 🙂 – Nita
Dear Nita,
you said “I feel that things have improved. In India we tend to learn after the event…or rather after many events! Each tragedy makes us improve a little. Just a little. – Nita”
My question is, Why indians tend to learn after event … or rather so many events? Why not Indians can Pro-active? Why so many human lives to be lost to learn things? Why can;t we prevent those events to be happened? Don’t indians have enough Brain to think and act before?
Regards,
Vikram
Frankly i am sick and tired of terrorism, statism, fanatism… Especially coz we, as indians, just know how to talk, talk and talk… i dont see any point in that! And no nita, it is not directed towards you, its in general!! 😡
I am a writer and so that is my job. Talk. So even if you do direct it towards me, I will be quite happy! 🙂 It means I am doing my job. Also I think the “talk” and writings even by others has helped a lot as India is a democracy and public opinion is considered important. More people should come out and talk and write. We all need to shout. – Nita
NO… we need action! As a nation, as citizens, as persons!! The grass root thinking has to be changed, in more ways than what meetst the eyes. I agree, to a certain extent talks help. But all talk and no work isn’t going to take us anyway. And thats what we do… in the parliament, in the courts, in public even at homes!! 😡
Ofcourse Sakhi, everyone has to take action. For example as a doctor you can make certain choices to true to your profession and do it with integrity. Everyone cannot be a social activist. But we can all be good citizens, not just in our professions, but also in real life. Helping others, following the law, speaking out against corruption, not paying bribes, not keepign quiet when we see injustice and so on a million things and choices that we have in our daily life. – Nita
I knew you would be writing about this. Thanks for your optimism and resolve for finding answers and bringing the guilty to justice. I’ve been struggling not knowing what to write, and am probably just going to vent out some stuff.
Mahendra, Mumbai is very dear to me, and the terror attacks affected me personally. I cried when I saw that video. – Nita
When it comes to Islamic terrorism I think it has largely to do with the mess in the middle east region. But very few people have an understanding of the history of the middle east and the outrageous mess that the US has created there and continues to foment. The muslim populace has been cornered and has suffered terribly and still suffers. Since the western media dominates and never speaks the truth of the rape of this region and its people, the world largely remains ignorant. The US needs to stop supporting Israel and solve this problem. Otherwise terrorism will never die.
well said Lakshmi, at point we have to take the blinkers off and see what people have lost and gained and europe and US has gained from the losses of middle easternn peoples freedom, support successive regimes and promote Saudi wahaabism over traditional islam has created this extremists islam, the UK is now talking about restricting muslim groups, when will indians take note, byt he time they have their cultural activities revoked it will be too late!
Time flies. May the souls rest in peace.
I want justice to prevail, and to prevail soon. When Kasab choose to take innocent lives so mercilessly, why are we spending so much money on security for him behind the cell instead of punishing for his heinous acts? Why are we thinking twice? Where is Law to protect the innocent when people like Kasab ran amok all over the town? Why should he be protected? Given rights? Why? This sickens me to my core.
Beacuse we are hindu and not savages! if you seek revenge seek islam, judaism or christianity! he has committed sina nd destroyed life, but we can not say to all hindus that our culture teaches revenge! ghandhi would spin in his grave!
@Danny: The tragedy is that most Hindus, like you, do not know what do Vedas teach and have made Gandhi the 10 Avatar of Vishnu. Buddha is also falsely considered the ninth avatar. He criticized the Vedas!
Hinduism does not talk about complete non-violence.
See what the Vedas says regarding self defense
http://satyavidya.org/component/content/article/53-vedic-vitamins/141-destroy-the-enemy
And the Heroic Hindu resistance against Islam which is not taught in our school “history” books
http://voi.org/books/hhrmi/
Nita,I am not too sure that we have learnt any lesson post 26/11.
Frankly,the only visible change is the appointment of Chidambaramb. R R Patil is back in the seat?The other change is that 26/11 is a strong case for playing politics over the dead,both by Congress and BJP.
Those who were promised treatment /aid /compensation have not yet been taken care of.Why?
Jawans are sleeping on the pavements.
I would have preferred that the Home Minister,Mah CM,The opposition Leader coming together to address the nation and tell us as to where do we stand and what all has been done to secure us and the country. We need to know and it is our right to know.
You may not agree with me but to me it seems that the only people who are safe in the country are
1…543 MPs WHO HAVE SECURITY
2…KASAB.
BKC, A lot of changes have happened, although I agree not as many as we would wish. About compensation, the railways paid compensation within a month and 90% of people have been paid by the MH govt. It is those without documentation who are still left but it is believed it is happening too. – Nita
We learn, true, but ONLY after we suffer. we never take precautions in advance. See the indian trains for one thing, no security check on who enters, what he carries, no security on running trains…..Are we waiting for terrorists to do something before we enhance security of our trains??
vivek, I agree a lot needs to be done to improve security on the trains. Let us hope they get more people soon, and the proper equipment. – Nita
These killers are not human
They are. They very much are. All too human. Given the right conditions applied for a sufficient amount of time, you and I could harbour thoughts like them. However, that is not to exonerate them from their ghastly crimes. There is still free will involved in converting those thoughts to actions.
Regards
I think it is best if we well-fed, well-educated, financially secure upper middle class Indians are not complacent about our moral standards. Our moral standards are not as immune and rock-solid to life conditions as we tend to think.
Sometimes being open minded can be counter productive. This is one of those instances.
Gee…can you provide another instance where being open-minded has been counter-productive?
Sure. Plenty of real life examples. Falling in love for instance.
Rags, Nita
This may interest you a lot.
http://www.gallup.com/consulting/worldpoll/26410/gallup-center-muslim-studies.aspx
Do check the link on moderates vs extremists. Here’s an excerpt from that link
Perhaps most surprising to many Westerners, the two groups showed little difference in religiosity as measured by the frequency of religious service attendance and the affirmation that religion is an important part of their daily lives.
In addition, political radicals were, on average,
slightly more educated and more affluent than
the moderates, suggesting that the root causes of
extremism typically do not include manipulation of
the ignorant by religious superstition or promises of
economic assistance.
Perhaps most telling is the fact that, in response to the
open-ended question, “What is your greatest fear?”, the
most frequent response among political radicals was
“occupation/U.S. domination,” while among moderates, it
was concern about economic issues.
well written, but I do not share your optimism. at all.
I do not believe anything fundamentally has changed. same people still do the same things in the same places…..
our politicians genuinely dont care about governance. you’d know if you met them.
its NOT THEIR JOB to govern (in their view). its just not on the list, doing a good job is not on the list.
police reform which smashes political hooliganism and violence of political parties, which opens the door for common citizens to stand for office and make a difference.
police and judicial reform lies at the heart…..everything starts with justice.
Pakistan has handed India an anniversary gift for 26/11 in the form of Lakhvi & company’s verdict; the people of India are still hoping to receive forgotten anniversary gifts. March 13th 1993, December 13th 2001, July 11th 2006, November 26th 2008…how many more strikes do we need before even a single mastermind of these terrorist attacks is punished by the Government of India?
Hi Nita,
Well written. I have read all the comments and even your replies.
Can you elaborate on the changes that you think have taken place?
Throughout your replies, you seem more than hopeful, almost sure, that changes have happened and you think we are better off today than before 26/11.
Please elaborate.
Like most of your readers, I do not see any tangible improvements.
Neither have the affected families received compensation, nor has there been improvement in the police force. And politicians, let’s just leave them alone !
Also, this isn’t just about Mumbai. Pan India, do you think we are better prepared today than last year? Do you think our Intelligence Agencies are really doing their best to foil as many plans as possible?
I still think we are as vulnerable today as we have been after every attack India has suffered.
yes alltalkandnoaction, I do believe it. Yes we are better prepared than last year? About the improvements, they have been coming in the newspapers. Ofcourse unless there is another attack on Mumbai we don’t know will we. These things were not in place before. Without hope there is no life. We can now hope that with all the new plans in place, they will work. I will write a post on this I think. Even if it is a short one. One thing that makes me uneasy is cynicism. I will try and write it tonight or tomorrow.- Nita
We are a civilized society but I feel that we should also be doing the same thing that Israel did after 1972 Munich massacre. I guess only Intelligence and such counter terrorism can stop terrorists. Our policemen being more equipped with better weapons would not prevent terrorism.
Nita, I share your optimism. As posted in my own blog things could have been much worse post 26/11. Indian Govt showed its maturity. The fact that we are prosecuting Kasab according to law of the country [and not hanging him without a fair trial] surely increases the stature of India among World Nations.
What is most important is not just to remember it, but to do something about it. Unless we send a strong message to the world that we are capable of thwarting or at least inflicting exemplary punishment on such terrorists, we will be seen as an easy target by them. We need to take example from countries like Turkey, Russia and US who have been dealing with this menace for years.
All turkey russia and us have eradicated any moral high ground as their activities have now crossed the line and they are now committing human rights crimes on many innocents! from everyday harrassment of non whites, to actual torture and rendition of other, and many of whom have disappeared, this includes challenging democracy in may parts of the world in order to support their so called interests! it has not stopped attacks as russia had to deal with the primary school massacre, turkey has many attacks and the US marines are being killed in iraq by not insurgents but by iraqi citizens. Dotn beleive the hype peddled to you by the west! as the mumbai attacks were known about prior to the attacks by the US! and 32billion dollars has been given to these hardline groups since the mid 60s, and lest we not forget the fight india had with pakistan supported by the US even after the Archer Blood telegram claiming the genocide of hindus and bengalis!
The cyber attack on India and its people should also be tackled. Many foreign culprits are looting the people of India through email scam
after reading articles in this blog i agree that we are loosing our country property again. First it was stolen by britishers but it was money.second by pollution and we are all responsible for this.there is no common rule in our country.in some states cutting trees is a crime but in some states it is not.recently in hyderbad for constructing metro lines government gave permission to cut all the trees that are besides on the road