26/11 - Don't Forget. Don't Forgive!

Background:

It is almost 4 years to this day, when the in-famous attack on Mumbai took place, when on the fateful evening of 28-Nov2008, 10 Pakistan-trained LeT terrorist held the city to ransom. This audacious attack claimed 164 innocent lives and left more than 308 injured. (Source: Wiki). It reiterated some glaring issues faced by us...intelligence failure , total mockery of our preparedness for such an eventuality, the absence of trained force and equally absent tools @ weaponisation & modernisation to deal with such an event, lack of political will to tackle and/or root out this evil. Mumbai - India's financial capital has borne these kinds of systemic attacks time-and-again in a timely & repetitive manner to such an extent that, as per me, people of Mumbai have come to accept of it as their way of living!!

Where we are today:

Post spending a fortunate worth of money conducting(or "orcehstrating" as I would like to call it) numerous trials, scores of evidences amassed and several procedures later what we are left with is an impotent system unable to deliver justice and uphold the laws of the land! With the total lack of intent to deliver any meaningful judgement on the lines of well-being of fellow countrymen which has now come to be a norm & characteristic of this spineless ruling govt. Despite having tons of "evidence" to prove the involvement of Pakistan and the lone surviving Ajmal Kasab, this govt is dilly-dallying and tip-toeing on this matter, thereby delaying much needed justice & closure to this case. In fact India is on its knee begging Pakistan to accept responsibility for this attack, as if that would do in any way bring closure to the countless sorrows that are forever etched in the minds and lives of the victims & survivors! What a Sham are they running!!!

Don't Forget. Don't Forgive!

I would implore my fellow countrymen to not forget this act of terror and war which is being enforced on us. The main conspirators are definitely those siting across the border - Pakistani masterminds. But let us also not discount the ones on our side of the border. Let us not forgive the law enablers - bureaucrats, law enforcers and most important of all GoI (Govt of India). Coz these are the very people who have been entrusted for safeguarding us - the people & resources of our nation. But their actions or more appropriately inactions act as "catalyst" for these cross border enemy of state who are always ready to wage war by inciting religious intolerance & violence, exporting radical Islam, destroying Indian economy by injecting fake currency notes among others.

Let us all resolve to the following:

Don't Forget (the umpteen terrorist attacks), Don't Forgive (Corrupt politicians)!

Hope by this resolve we are able to channelise our energies to act as "enablers" for a better India and most importantly for a better future for all of us.

Amen!

Are they really serious of fighting terrorism?

3.5 Cr Speedboat breaks down in record time(Read full story here...)

Mumbai is redefining the meaning of fight against terrorism. On the eventual day of 26/11 when the Pakistani terrorists staged an outrageous attack on India's financial capital Mumbai, the city was taken by surprise and eventually many innocent lives were lost. The high human toll and rusty preparedness was mostly attributed to the ill-equipped police force. The Great Indian Think Tank came together to immediately propose and allocate decent(if not huge) sum of funds towards modernizing and equipping the police force. Outcome of all this being setting up an independent task force for Mumbai (and hopefully other metropolitan cities eventually), procuring advanced machinery/tools to thwart future attacks such as these...

This typical knee-jerk reaction resulted in procurement of substandard tools from suppliers. This is evident from the breakdown of one of the two speedboats - Koyna. With this level of commitment and recent chatter of possible new attack getting louder by the day, it is only a matter of time we will be faced with another variant of 26/11!


Unless & until there is a real push to get our acts together, I don't see any reason for the local populous to feel safe with this well equipped police force guarding us.


Hope the commoners are not taken for a ride again!

Amen!

Marathi Manoos - MNS's con job agenda

Marathi only diktat to MLAs from MNS chief!(Read full news here...)

Here comes another salvo from the so-called champion of Marathi Manoos - MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Raj has time-and-again worked up the agenda of dividing the masses of Maharashtra on the lines of Marathi and non-Marathi locals. In doing so he has also ensured that Mumbai's (along with rest of Maharashtra) reputation of a cosmopolitan city takes a sound beating. What does he gain out of Mumbai's ordeal? Power. By feeding these lame ideas to the masses, playing(these kind of) dirty vote bank politics and ultimately gaining power Raj truly has evolved from being a decent Mumbaikar to a pukka politician. He has proclaimed himself as the new champion of Marathi Manoos, a fact underscored by Mumbaikars who elected him to power thereby ushering more dark and difficult times for Mumbai(post-Sena dominance).

I being born & bought up in Mumbai can very well see the transformation(read degeneration) of Maaji Mumbai(My Mumbai). These poisonous thoughts have now taken shape in the very form of my good(Marathi) friends talking so passionately about this new found purpose and direction. They go about being flag bearers of this very sick ideology by echoing and ultimately advocating the very thoughts! I took pride calling myself a Mumbaikar, but today my pain knows no bounds caused by these mindless political stunts and the very acceptance by the masses! I abhor the very idea of Mumbai belonging only to the Marathi Manoos thereby alienating non-Marathi populous! The very essence of Mumbai is in its diversity of its dwellers.

MNS chief's recent statement is a blatant disregard to the constitution of our country and can only be seen as a direct challenge to the law enforcers. Strict action should be taken against the party, specially against the MSN chief for making such threatening statements(which undermines the law of the land) to set an example so that other(would be) violators don't imitate these kind of actions. MNS to establish itself doesn't have to go down the Sena line - who used pressure tactics(read goonda tactics) and provoked these kind of local sentiments to bring themselves to power. MNS should rather learn from Sena's mistakes or shortcomings, implement policy changes(rather than beating the dead goat practice @ Marathi Manoos) to address the larger masses, ensure a sense of belonging to all, and keep true the promises made during election campaign. This is the only way it can establish itself as Mumbaikars' true champion and a good unbiased political party.

These changes are bound to usher a new era of reforms for Mumbai(and Maharashtra), making Mumbaikar's feel more connected, comfortable and confident about themselves and their city. MNS activists as well as Mumbaikars have to go through a sea change in terms of mindset towards non-Marathi locals. It should aim towards painting the city with the varied colors of the rainbow as opposed to the monotonous theme as is the case with most other Indian cities.

Amen!

Kasab - the 26/11 terrorist plays to Indian audience

Kasab's trial goes on and he is not dead yet!(Read full story here...)

Pakistani gunman Ajmal Amir Kasab @ Kasab the lone surviving terrorist of the 26/11 brutal assault on India's financial capital - Mumbai is in news again! Enough evidences have cemented Kasab's nationality & his involvement in the bloody 26/11 attack in which hundreds of innocent Indians along with other foreign nationals were massacred. It seems having put Kasab through trial to establish these facts is not enough for the Indian govt. The judiciary is now planing to play a dirty & dangerous game of It is not over yet...

In one of the most recent statements to the court, Kasab has accepted all his doings & has pleaded to be awarded aptly - capital punishment.The drama created by attention seeking mindless media who are in business not for real journalism but to make heads turn with their sensational piece of dirty & filthy minds are discussing on lengths of how Kasab might be misleading the Indian populous(read law makers, enforcers & followers) with his recent plea for death. There are now different school of thought churning out new & weird ideas & discussions about how Kasab is smarter than we assume & how capable he is of playing mind games with the Indian masses.

On the other hand, govt lawyers & police are not satisfied with Kasab's confession because they want him to confess to the entire story/version as per the police records. Now I beg to ask this Q - "What on earth are you going to prove with all these confessions and B...S... statements?" Isn't capital punishment the ultimate reward for his misadventure apt? Having established his involvement(which shouldn't have taken so long in the first place), shouldn't he be dragged along the by lanes of Mumbai after being decapitated & then shot in full public view? I know this sounds like a piece of Taliban's way of justice, but this would etch fear in the minds of wannabe trouble makers & terrorists and also give out an stern warning to the entire terrorism community who might think India is an easy & soft target. India has for long bore the brunt of numerous terrorist attacks & I think its time we start acting(reactive & in proactive manner) to these threats & take actions to mitigate them once and for all.

But that was wishful thinking, I'm sure as I see, this drama is going to carry on for few more years to come & Kasab will live long enough to mock the Indian judiciary & he might die with an sarcastic smile on his face having made a buffoon of the Indians again!!!

Afzal Guru the key conspirator in the Indian Parliament attack is one fine living example of this - but then that is a different story all together, which I might write about in some time to come.

Amen!