Updates on Mumbai Terror Attacks

More updates on the Mumbai Terror Attacks. Continued from the original post

News & Resources

The list of dead and injured people including the hospital they are in can be found at the Mumbai Help blog.

More updates and help resources including contact numbers.

Opinions and Analysis

Ross Douthat at The Atlantic salutes the resilience of the Indian people in dealing with terror attacks on a regular basis:

If you try to imagine how the United States would bear up under the kind of horrific drumbeat of small and large-scale attacks that India’s experienced in the last few years, it’s hard to feel anything save admiration – and, on this day, thanksgiving – for Indian courage and resilience under fire.

Some amazing pictures from The Big Picture:

Care for some misinformation and immaturity? Tperacha at Lahore Metblogs provides a fine example:

It’s about that the Indian media stop is propaganda and do some soul searching as to the actual reasons behind these attacks. A good starting point maybe, the state of Muslims in India.

So let me get this straight, the way to improve the state of Muslims in India is to get pleasure in killing innocents, target foreigners, and hold a hospital for women & children hostage for hours. If the educated elite in Pakistan is anything like this moron, then I fear for Pakistan. But why am I pontificating. I’ll let an Indian who happens to be a Muslim answer your ridiculous explanation [hat tip: curdriceaurora]:

The Indian Muslim doesn’t need people killing in his name. He needs reform. The community is one of the most backwards communities in India, a large part of the blame for which it will have to shoulder itself. Partition had already crippled the community, giving the Indian Muslim the easy tag of a ‘foreigner’ in his very land of birth. Do you think the he now needs Pakistani terrorists to come in and create mayhem and anarchy in India?

Prem is writing wonderful posts taking the media to task and taking a long look at the harm done to a city’s psyche:

At the door, my wife hugged me. It was not a husband-to-wife hug. For that brief moment when her arms were around me I felt, oddly, like a puppy—a lame one. It was that kind of hug—animated by a larger admixture of fear, sorrow, pity. As I stepped into the elevator, it struck me why that hug felt odd. The wife wasn’t hugging me. She was trying, in her own helpless fashion, to hug this wounded city that has been home to us for 19 years. I suspect similar scenes, similar gestures, are playing out across homes and hearts throughout Mumbai.

Udayan writes on the preventive measures; not restrictive stringent laws that curb our freedoms that should be acted upon by the government before such terror attacks can take shape:

But what about real safety? Pakistan’s ISI seems to have a dirty little hand in a lot of what happens in Bombay. The chronology, laid down at the International Herald Tribune’s website shows the shocking breadth and depth of terrorism in India. If the ISI is so talented at finding out where, when, and how to cause havoc, India needs an intelligence service talented at finding out where, when, and how — before terrorists strike.

Sambit Bal at Cricinfo writes that talking about cricket feels out the place in the face of the Mumbai attacks and talks about his personal experiences during previous periods of unrest in the city:

That England shouldn’t play the next two one-dayers should have been a no-brainer. Middlesex and Western Australia needn’t have bothered making explanations. Sport is not bigger than life, not even in a country where it is said to be the religion.

Amit Varma is confident that Mumbai will bounce back from the shock of these latest attacks:

I often say that Mumbai is the only city in India where you can land up from anywhere and feel at home right away. Indeed, if the men behind this mayhem, who allegedly travelled here from Karachi, came here as tourists, they too would feel at home in no time. And I know, despite the pain and the rage that all Mumbaikars no doubt share with me today, that this will not change. Our arms will still be open—but hopefully, so will our eyes.

All I ask is we don’t display an attitude of being easy targets and an overzealous penchant for forgiveness for such heinous crimes.

Ramesh writes on the utter ineptitude on part of the media and politicians in handling these terror attacks:

Commandos are landing on the Nariman Building. They seem to be tip-toeing down. They are communicating to each other through hand signals. Secrecy & surprise are paramount. And NDTV is showing this live!!! With informative commentary on how many commandos have landed and so on. Perhaps NDTV’s research has shown that terrorists only watch cartoon network during missions.

Parinita writes on the growing frustration at the failure of the government to stop such attacks and wonders how long will Mumbai take to recover [hat tip: Tanuj]:

When I was younger, I remember someone telling me “If Pakistan dares lay a finger on Mumbai, India will annihilate Pakistan.” Such was the confidence in the government. Now, however, the politicians are so busy playing the blame game that they barely have time for something as trivial as weeding out the perpetrators and bringing them to justice

Offstumped calls for an active response from the citizens after this crisis ends and is heartened that behind the media’s screeching, the Indian state has begun to assert itself:

Rather than show the spirit of Mumbai by merely showing up to work tomorrow, Offstumped calls upon Mumbaikars to get engaged in some civic vigilance to verify the identity and antecedents of those around them and make sure no one has gotten away or found shelter in a safe haven in the dark alleys of Mumbai.

Prem Panicker calls for the Indian state to address the state of helplessness felt by people in India today:

This mythical ‘spirit’, celebrated in song and story after March 12, 1993 and July 11, 2006, is perhaps the most gut-wrenching, heart-aching symbol of collective helplessness. If I could – if we Mumbaikars could – we would ‘take up arms against a sea of trouble’ and willingly, gladly even, send the murdering sons of bitches to perdition.

Mehernaaz at Mumbai Metblogs is saddened that this attack is “a rude reminder to us that we are now more a city of the world than ever before and we will never be able to go back”:

Terrorism is such an integral part of our world sense, it nearly seems normal now. Its happening everywhere. Right, wrong, justified, desperate, its happening. Little children know what it means.

Walid Phares sizes up this new mode of attack and possible perpetrators:

In view of the historical context, precedents and latest analysis, the most likely groups that may be behind these attacks are the Lashkar e Toiba/SIMI (they now call themselves Indian Mujahideen). These groups are Jihadists, have links to the other organizations in Kashmir but also inside Pakistan with pro-Taliban elements and eventually Al Qaeda.

Chris Devonshire-Ellis at TwoPointSixBillion wants India to work with Pakistan in rooting out the fundamentalist elements:

If Pakistan truly wishes to turn back the tide of fundamentalism in its country, and stop exporting violence overseas, then it must have proper support and assistance from India. Yet the concern is that if last nights atrocities in Mumbai turn out to be Islamic backed, violence and retribution could ignite across India.

I’m sure Chris’s heart is in the right place but unfortunately the ground realities do not support his theses. If Pakistan really wanted to eliminate such threats, they would have acted on it a lot earlier. And it is not like India hasn’t already done what he suggests in the past.

Great Bong pens some thoughts in his own inimitable style:

The sheer scale and brazenness is one more testament to the damning failure of the government security apparatus, not that needed to be established again after the last twenty such acts of urban violence. Looking at the images of Taj hotel burning and people running about and the voice over informing us that the terrorists are still inside, this seemed to be a scene out of Beirut or the West Bank. Except it wasn’t. It was closer home.

Saket rants on the changing face of terrorism in India and the feeling of helplessness and fear among the common folk:

This is different. This involves you taking to the streets, hotels, railway stations and other public places with an array of sophisticated weapons in your backpack and a smile on your face. You personally killing as many ordinary people as you can, fully comfortable with the knowledge that you are going down yourself soon. It is one thing to dream of something like this when you are feeling particularly evil, or another if you are playing a modern-day first person shooter.

Chetan writes on what I believe is the Indian media’s lowest point (if you thought they couldn’t go any lower); primary accused – Barkha Dutt. The media seems to be advanced in terms of technology but definitely not in ethics (removed on request).