Lessons we need to learn, questions we need to ask

[mekin]

 I hope now on government/military disallow all live coverage of any *live* mission conducted by security forces AND LET THE SECURITY FORCES RUN THE SHOW. They are putting their lives in danger - and everyone else needs to do whatever is best for their operation.
Definitely not pressurize them with constant questioning about plans, strategy &

Comments

[vinay_ks]

I think as a first step, we should file an RTI application to PIO of the home ministry, asking them what steps were taken to prevent further attacks after say (1)Bangalore in July etc (2)Bombay last year etc..and some more questions of the status of some previous probes.

Let's also do a protest on the roads. We should get large numbers on the roads really..

[ex_kalyan]

With people wanting to give away their freedom, RTI will soon be out of our hands.

[vinay_ks]

yeah..like u said, there is probably a beleif that we should give up most of our freedoms for greater security.but i guess for greater security while some small freedoms might have to go, but there is no point in becoming a police state either.

its a miracle the indian state let RTI get in, we must not let it go away at any cost.

You are asking the right questions...

[ext_135595]

Mekin

Re: You are asking the right questions...

[vijayr]

Why just a "national plan to fight terrorism"? As one of the other comments points out, what about the lives lost to Naxalism? Mafia and other crime? Goondaism?

Let us recognize that we're a lawless society, where the criminals not only operate with impunity, criminality is seen as a plus point by the political parties.

We need an independent, well equipped, well paid, and accountable anti-CRIME force - and not just an anti-terror apparatus.

[vinay_ks]

I dont know whether Mekin meant waging the Iraq style wars here, he probably meant more like going over to PoK and shutting down camps etc .doing that I think is not really a condemnable actionMek?

But I think now we should'nt do that too. The current democratic pakistan government is an ally for us. Its probably rogue elements in the ISI and military who might have done this. while we need to pressurise them and get them to dismantle all jihadi apparatus, I dont think we should do anything(eg.cross border strikes) which weakens the pak democartic govt.s position badly. If we give away peace now, we'll end up losers - all of us - Hindus,Muslims,Sikhs,Christians.. Indians, Pakistanis all.

I'm wondering what will be the reaction inside India though. I hope we dont become even more splintered..but im scared that inside india positions will harden and we'll have even more religious polarization.

[mekin]

You are right.

My reactions are those of rage ..
But they are also of helplessness. I see no solution, but to wage a head on war against the terrorists.
It is impossible to secure every nook & corner of our country.

I wouldn't want to inflict any harm to anybody innocent, but my heart does not allow me to be that forgiving to the people who just did what we are still reeling from in Mumbai.

[ex_kalyan]

When has the value of ones life become more important than the other ?

US killed roughly more than 400 people for each of the person died in 911. Is that how you want India to handle this too ?

[mekin]

You are right.

No, I do not want India to inflict war on a nation.

But the lives of a terrorist & an innocent person aren't equal, are they?

More importantly - tell me how & when will this stop. 8 times in a year and especially this 1 are way too much to handle, and I see no end to this.

[ex_kalyan]

I know it has been 8 times and I do agree with you that we must do something. Its just that we have to be sensible about it and maybe do some of the things vishy mentioned in this post.

Politicians have already gotten out and are quick to blame pak for all this. If enough people react in rage, you can see where this will head : innocent lives will be lost on both sides as these politicians will use this as an excuse to win people's hearts.

The aim of the terrorists was obviously to damage the image of India, hit its financial sector etc. We can get back them by actually not letting that happen.

[anomalizer]

More importantly - tell me how & when will this stop.

One of the more interesting things to understand in life is that you don't need to have ansnwers to everything. That way, when you realize you don't have an answer to something, you don't end up doing random things to convince yourself what in management cirlces is called as being "proactive".

[anomalizer]

I'd suggest you suspend your writing till you get out of the lynch mob mentality

Righto!

[jagadish]

There's bound to be a reactionary approach. Is it a long-term one? Will summoning the ISI's boss achieve anything other than him bleating about lack of evidence? What next, take along Pakistani army folks when we're trying to flush out terrorists, and make sure they're with the Indian army folks all through lest there be accusations of planting of passports, currency, dry fruits, hate literature, etc

Re: Righto!

[ex_kalyan]

Some of the measures will not work. These are what they call movie plot threats.

Now that there has been an incident in the hotel and the railways, securing them is not the solution. Infact the terrorists must be really stupid to strike at the same place again. They like to strike at an unexpected places and in an unexpected time. We need to put our money on Rapid action forces, Intelligence etc.. not securing locations one-by-one.

Re: Righto!

[jagadish]

Of course they're not going to target the same spots again. But does that mean we don't bother preventing recurrence? Note that I never said we need to focus on hotels or railways. I mentioned public places in general.

RAF or NSG commandos are a reactionary mechanism. They are as much needed as preventive measures are, which includes intelligence & more importantly making sense of the inputs.

PS: Railway stations & trains are a favourite haunt of terrorists. Far too often these have been targets.