The Mumbai Attacks

After the Mumbai serial attacks on trains and railway stations, there were a few (who should have known better) who expressed shock at the incident. I am shocked by their expression of shock! This was clearly something that was waiting to happen given the threat perception, security situation and the ease of attacking these targets.

Now ofcourse, the media jumps onto the scene as if this was just what they were waiting for. Till recently they had a fascination for a certain Rahul Mahajan, a non-descripit individual whose sole claim to fame was the reputation of his Dad. Now they question what the administration and intelligence services are doing...may be they should have spent all the time wasted on Rahul Mahajan investigating the security situation and pointing out loop holes. Its very easy to point something out after an incident has occurred. Much of the media should not be taken seriously.

However, there are a few exceptions. They have been relentlessly investigating and covering the prevailing threat scenario and security situation and making suggestions about what needs to be done. Praveen Swami has been covering and analyzing these issues for quite sometime now in the Hindu and Frontline and has an excellent analysis of the Mumbai incident. Nitin Pai has been continuously expressing his opinion and thoughts at his blog The Acorn. The Counterterrorism Blog reports and analyzes issues related to terrorism across the globe and has some interesting articles on the Mumbai incidents. Indian Express has this article which I thought was profoundly disturbing.

The most interesting report, and in a way amusing, I read was one quoting the Home Minister Mr. Shivraj Patil saying...We had information that something like this would occur, but we did not know when and where. (!!!)