Thursday, July 13, 2006

Mumbai Blasts : what, when, where, who, why ??

8 explosions took place on various Mumbai local trains, the life line of Mumbai public on 11 July. This was a very sad incidence. But has this not happened ever before?
Since its first serial bomb explosions in 1993 there have been 6 terrorist attcks in Mumbai alone, one in delhi last october (many more oevr the years) and almost every week in J&K. In 1993, death toll was more than 250( 257 to be precise), in 2003 it was 48 and now more than 200 have been killed and close to 500 injured.

But will it not happend again ? to say no!! is being over optimistic rather it is being naive (who will change the situation, was some minister's relative a victim that he will take some action?), but at the same time saying yes it would happen again is more than painful and disappointing.

Where could it happen the next time? does this really have any boundaries ? it could be any where , the malls that you go to every weekend, the bus or auto u travel by could be carrying the packets, the cinema hall you go for a movie once in a month, railway station, airport, bus stand, a school, college, car parking, a road crossing, it could happen wherever life exists.

Who does such henious crime?? As an ordinary citizen i can only guess based on the previous culprits ( anyways Indian government has not been able to find out that too, and there have been no guilty sentenced ever), but isn't the government, the police, the authorities supposed to know this. But in India they wait for some terrorist organization to claim the responsibility ( the government waits as long their is a media report announcing the name of the organization which claims the responsibilty as if they have done job worth appreciation) and government acknowledges it with equal respect , as if it will verified so that only the authentic owner is honoured for the act.
This lackdaisical attitude of government is the key reason that attacks have become just a regular thing in India and to hide their own misgovernance the government calls it the spirit of mumbai( but what option do people have, but to get back to their work as they obviously cannot sit at home). Look at USA after 9/11 its almost 5 years now and not even a small grenade has not exploded there ( i dont mean to say that it should happen there , but why cant the Indian goverment do atleast 50% of that).

Why does this happen at all ? Those who do it call it freedom struggle( freedom against whom , from what, i am sure even these a**h**** dont know). Those who face it know only one thing, they never ever wished of something like this to happen to anybody and still they are at the receiving end.

what can be done ? as an ordinary mortal citizen i and u can only do some small things before and after such incident. Being careful and attentive when in public places. Avoid thinking, who's got the time to report something unusual to the police, and why should it matter to me. Helping those in need at this difficult time, it could be the injured or the ones out there helping the injured ( indirect help is often more valuable as it reduces the chaos and panic). But then government is not as helpless as we are and it can definitely do more than just condemning ( Manmohan Singh said we will not be cowed down by any such thing) or expressing shock( sonia gandhi expressed shock over the incidence, as if it happened for the first time in India, ofocurse this might not have happened ever in Italy, and she might still be having the FIFA hangover as she might still be celebrating).

Mumbai help (http://www.mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/) is a good blog that is doing a commendable Job in providing information on almost everything from injured list to hospital numbers.

And all those who cannot help directly or indirectly, can pray for those who left us, can pray for those who are in pain, and pray for some miracles to happen and bring an end to these things (where wll this miracle come from?).
But surprising was the extensive coverage of these blasts on CNN and BBC, and annoying was to see them comparing it with 9/11, please some body explain it to Americans, what they faced was what India is facing since 1989 and not what we faced was after they faced something for the first time from the terrorist attacks.

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