Serial Blasts in Mumbai

The Strategic Issues & International Relations Forum is a venue to discuss issues pertaining to India's security environment, her strategic outlook on global affairs and as well as the effect of international relations in the Indian Subcontinent. We request members to kindly stay within the mandate of this forum and keep their exchanges of views, on a civilised level, however vehemently any disagreement may be felt. All feedback regarding forum usage may be sent to the moderators using the Feedback Form or by clicking the Report Post Icon in any objectionable post for proper action. Please note that the views expressed by the Members and Moderators on these discussion boards are that of the individuals only and do not reflect the official policy or view of the Bharat-Rakshak.com Website. Copyright Violation is strictly prohibited and may result in revocation of your posting rights - please read the FAQ for full details. Users must also abide by the Forum Guidelines at all times.
nikhilarora
BRFite -Trainee
Posts: 34
Joined: 23 Jun 2011 19:02

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by nikhilarora »

nikhilarora wrote:
ashish raval wrote:Well, in which case we cannot rule out Digvijay and Congress's role too :evil:
Mumbai blasts: Can’t rule out hand of Hindu outfits, says Digvijay
Digvijay Singh is a christian so he thinks that the Hindu Terror group doesn't include him. He is as sacred as a holy cow, or holy cross whatever!!!

hello ! why does diggy singh have to be a christian to be a problem for India ? how is him being christian (or not) a problem in the first place ?
With all due respect, please try to understand and comprehend what I said and then comment. No one said Diggy Singh is a problem, only his comments were. I won't defend myself for it, but I don't think you got what I intended to mean. Just an analogy, if you comment that the Islamic Radicals are causing mayhem across the world, does that include you in it? No right, because you are in India and are a hindu, the term Muslim radicals refers to Muslim radicals, some other group, so it doesn't include you. That doesn't mean that you are a problem or all muslims are a problem. Hope this makes things clear, and pleas use your brain before commenting. Thanks.
Last edited by Rahul M on 26 Jul 2011 17:43, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: permanently banned.
abhishek_sharma
BRF Oldie
Posts: 9664
Joined: 19 Nov 2009 03:27

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by abhishek_sharma »

From the Urdu Press
Mumbai again

Reacting to the July 13 bomb blasts in Mumbai, the daily Sahafat, published from Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Dehradun, writes in its July 16 editorial: “This is a beastly act, a show of enmity against humanity and extreme hard-heartedness. It can no longer be tolerated... The home minister did accept intelligence failure but, alas, this acceptance is of no value. No recompense is possible now.”

Rashtriya Sahara’s editorial on July 15, writes: “It is surprising that the Mumbai police and the intelligence agencies have not successfully evolved a strategy to foil terrorist elements and organisations despite 26/11 and other periodic bomb blasts. Zaveri Bazar, which saw a blast in August 25, 2003, should not have been allowed to remain an easy target.”

Jamaat-e-Islami’s Daawat writes on July 19: “In order to reveal the truth behind any bomb blast, catch the culprits and prevent further incidents, it is necessary to conduct a wide-ranging, independent, just and non-communal inquiry. No charge should be brought on the basis of religion, like the instance when, upon finding a head separated from a body after the explosion, it was concluded that it could be a suicide bomb blast. But after the separated head was identified as a certain Shiv Charan, the suicide blast theory was changed.” :?:

Delhi-based daily Hamara Samaj writes (July 20): “The statement of Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh is correct to a great extent. It is no longer secret that the Sangh Parivar has been directly involved in most explosions in the country. The evidence against Aseemanand and Sadhvi Pragya has clearly shown up the mentality behind bomb blasts.” The daily Siasat, published from Hyderabad and Bangalore writes in its editorial on July 18: “Digvijaya Singh has not held Hindu organisations responsible (for the Mumbai blasts), and has only demanded an inquiry... It is not proper to reject his demand for an honest and impartial inquiry into the role of Hindu organisations and the RSS.” Differing with most other papers, Hamara Samaj says: “We cannot blame the intelligence agencies for these explosions. Rahul Gandhi’s statement to the effect that these agencies cannot prevent 100 per cent of the explosions is correct.”
A_Gupta
BRF Oldie
Posts: 12067
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 11:31
Contact:

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by A_Gupta »

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/MG22Df02.html
DHAKA - The suspected mastermind of the serial bomb blasts that last week killed at least 19 people in Mumbai and injured over 130 more is in Bangladesh, according to Indian media reports.

Abdullah Khan, of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), probably orchestrated the blasts and his movements had been tracked over the past few months, the Times of India quoted investigators as saying in a July 17 report.
In a bid to combat such cross-border terrorism, organized crime and the drug trade, during Hasina's visit to India in January 2010, Bangladesh and India decided to form a coordination committee comprising representatives of law-enforcing agencies and the two countries' intelligence wings to "deal with international terrorism and drug smuggling, investigation and completion of trial in such crimes".

The agreement has yet to be ratified by either country. But the continued movement of terrorists across the border makes it highly likely that it will be signed off during a planned visit to Bangladesh by Manmohan in September.

The signing of the initial agreement and the arrest of numerous high-profile terrorists was behind the United States in August 2010 lauding Bangladesh's efforts "to deny domestic and transnational terrorists safe haven and targeting opportunities in Bangladesh".

Bangladesh and India now have to join hands to apprehend suspected IM terrorists. At stake are bilateral ties between the neighbors, whose cooperation framework has the potential to improve livelihoods significantly and save lives in both countries.
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 59773
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by ramana »

So no progress so far.

To me thats the hall mark of an intel agency. No clues or so many clues that end up no where.
brihaspati
BRF Oldie
Posts: 12410
Joined: 19 Nov 2008 03:25

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by brihaspati »

Or, the links lead to caves that cannot be exposed. Politically costly perhaps?
A_Gupta
BRF Oldie
Posts: 12067
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 11:31
Contact:

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by A_Gupta »

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Nepal-pol ... 25765.aspx
Police in Nepal have arrested an Indian man suspected of having links to triple bomb blasts in Mumbai on July 13 that killed 24 people, a police officer said on Tuesday.

It is the first arrest anywhere in connection with the bombings. The man was held by Nepal's anti-terrorist police on Saturday at his flat in Kathmandu's Baluwatar neighbourhood, the officer said on condition of anonymity.

"He was arrested on suspicion of his links with the Mumbai blasts," he added, explaining that police were probing text messages and phone calls sent to someone in Mumbai.
shyamd
BRF Oldie
Posts: 7101
Joined: 08 Aug 2006 18:43

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by shyamd »

^^ Result of IB team who were despatched to Nepal. Good job.
sanjeevpunj
BRFite
Posts: 971
Joined: 04 Sep 2009 13:10

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by sanjeevpunj »

Light at the end of the tunnel at last?
shyamd
BRF Oldie
Posts: 7101
Joined: 08 Aug 2006 18:43

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by shyamd »

There will be more attacks to come. Key is good intelligence - nothing else can prevent these attacks. Cost of doing these ops are just dirt cheap. These attacks cost less than 2 lakhs at the most. If you have fake currency to boot, its easy.
Chinmayanand
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2585
Joined: 05 Oct 2008 16:01
Location: Mansarovar
Contact:

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by Chinmayanand »

Yesterday Aaj Tak broadcast a review of security situation on Delhi Airport . Conclusion was it was inviting terrorists with open arms to blow up some airlines on the tarmac or whatever they please. Will India ever learn a lesson ? The sorry answer is "NO" . The govt is too busy making money to deposit in Swiss banks and the public have resigned to their fate.

There is a "Veer Baba " ka majar which is just 30 metres from the runway and it is open to the public on Thursdays with no security check. The CISF does not even bother to check what you are carrying in the polythene. The correspondent even went to the hangar where the planes used by RAW are parked. He kept roaming there for half an hour with nobody to query him .

GOD secure India !!!
Last edited by Chinmayanand on 26 Jul 2011 18:06, edited 1 time in total.
sanjeevpunj
BRFite
Posts: 971
Joined: 04 Sep 2009 13:10

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by sanjeevpunj »

More attacks cannot be ruled out, the enemy is allied with many others within.The guy will spill some beans I'm sure,lets wait and see who rushes to Nepal to mute their press about the story that might emerge from there.
shyamd
BRF Oldie
Posts: 7101
Joined: 08 Aug 2006 18:43

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by shyamd »

sanjeevpunj wrote:More attacks cannot be ruled out, the enemy is allied with many others within.The guy will spill some beans I'm sure,lets wait and see who rushes to Nepal to mute their press about the story that might emerge from there.
We have had a solid intel cooperation with Nepal and conducted several arrests from there over the last 5 years.
sanjeevpunj
BRFite
Posts: 971
Joined: 04 Sep 2009 13:10

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by sanjeevpunj »

^^^ I surely believe that.Let's hope the investigations sharpen in their analysis,seems that the picture is getting clearer at last.
sum
BRF Oldie
Posts: 10195
Joined: 08 May 2007 17:04
Location: (IT-vity && DRDO) nagar

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by sum »

The correspondent even went to the hangar where the planes used by RAW are parked. He kept roaming there for half an hour with nobody to query him .
I also wonder the same whenever i pass near T3...the ARC hangar seems to be virtually touching the road and doesnt even have a rudimentary fence...Il-76s, Gulfstreams, B-707s etec can be seen parked and are virtaully touching distance!!
Manny
BRFite
Posts: 859
Joined: 07 Apr 2006 22:16
Location: Texas

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by Manny »

How come Indian news papers are not reporting this?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/2 ... 09448.html

Muhammad Zahir, Mumbai Explosion Suspect, Arrested In Nepal: Report
sum
BRF Oldie
Posts: 10195
Joined: 08 May 2007 17:04
Location: (IT-vity && DRDO) nagar

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by sum »

^^ DDM did report but immediately, quoted "sources" saying that arrested person was not related to the blasts and the news died down. Seems MHA is playing this down ( maybe to avoid hampering further ops)
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 59773
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by ramana »

Maybe the attack was a prelude to Hina Vishkanya visit to India to see if GOI cancels the visit?
A_Gupta
BRF Oldie
Posts: 12067
Joined: 23 Oct 2001 11:31
Contact:

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by A_Gupta »

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/rigour-mortis-122829
The story of the slow decline of the Mumbai police and its impact on the handling of blast cases needs to be told in greater detail elsewhere. For now some urgent steps, which require the intervention of our go-getting Home Minister, and our somewhat tentative Chief Minister. The state's legal department needs to be galvanised into ensuring that the Mulund, Vile Parle and Bombay Central blast cases are prosecuted with levels of urgency comparable to that demonstrated in the Kasab case. A similar urgency is needed in the cases of Sadhvi Pragya, Lt Purohit and the remaining 'Hindu bombers' - another trial that is threatening to lapse into a legal twilight zone.
Rangudu
BRFite
Posts: 1751
Joined: 03 Mar 2002 12:31
Location: USA

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by Rangudu »

ramana wrote:Maybe the attack was a prelude to Hina Vishkanya visit to India to see if GOI cancels the visit?
Ramana garu,

Hina hasn't been a kanya for a while now :rotfl:
devesh
BRF Oldie
Posts: 5129
Joined: 17 Feb 2011 03:27

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by devesh »

^^^
agreed. :lol:
she is now Hina Vish-nari.
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 59773
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by ramana »

You need a booster for ANFO.
So some booster was used. What do DRDO labs say?
Shows a clear need to upgrade technology at labs. Even the Varanasi blast also had no clear markers.

So clearly a new technique is being used.
What is track record of each lab?

Also note there are three labs: NIA, NSG and Mahrastra.

Based on the superficial reports quoted above I would venture that the 13/7 Mumbai blasts are akin to the Varansi blast. So would focus on the Varansi perpetrators.
Philip
BRF Oldie
Posts: 21538
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: India

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by Philip »

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?o ... Itemid=404
Taliban Role In Mumbai Attack
Written by Siddharth Srivastava
Thursday, 28 July 2011

A little help from our friends

Terrorists thinking outside the box?

The indigenous terror group Indian Mujahideen that carried out the July 13 bombings in Mumbai appears to have been trained and given other help by the Taliban in Afghanistan, senior security officials have told Asia Sentinel.

The Mumbai serial bomb blasts killed 20 people and injured nearly 150 people, many seriously, highlighting once again the vulnerability of the city and the rest of the country to repeated terror attacks. It was the worst such attack on India’s commercial center since Nov. 26, 2008, when Pakistani militants killed 164 people and wounded at least 308.

The Indian Mujahideen are believed to have been formed in 2008 as a front group created by the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami to confuse investigators, officials say. They have also been linked with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, with some of its cadres derived from the local Indian population. Apparently because of a concern that Indian intelligence officials were catching up with the Pakistani-based jihadi groups, the training was switched to Afghanistan.

In order to unleash the current round of terror attacks, at least a dozen operatives were trained by the Taliban to orchestrate militant strikes in India, the officials said. The Taliban are growing increasingly hostile to India’s involvement in Afghanistan, which has included support to President Hamid Karzai, re-construction, infrastructure development and aid. New Delhi believes that an Afghanistan under Taliban rule extends the influence of Pakistan in the war-ravaged country, which is inimical to India’s interest, especially in reining in terrorism and militancy in Kashmir.

Mumbai has been attacked repeatedly by terrorist bombers or jihadi terrorists going back to 1993, raising serious questions about the competence of the police and intelligence agencies to thwart them. The officials say the earlier presumption about inadequate local levels of policing and intelligence gathering reflects a bigger failure that extends to federal agencies involved in pre-emption, counter-terror and cross national operations.

A committee set up to probe the 2008 attacks, chaired by Ram Pradhan, a former governor and home secretary, and V Balachandran, a retired police officer, issued a devastating report indicating the police were completely unprepared. That appears to have continued. Critics have pointed out, for instance, that a recommendation by the committee to install 5,000 CCTV cameras in the city is still pending in Delhi.

Taken in this context Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statement that there was absence of any intelligence inputs about an impending attack in Mumbai last week, misses the mark and points towards a bigger error. The officials say it is crucial to establish effective communication links between the higher intelligence agencies and the lower level police posts to build a comprehensive front against “low intensity-high impact” bomb attacks.

The officials involved closely with India’s internal intelligence and security, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operatives trained by the Taliban in all likelihood carried out the three blasts via improvised explosive devices in Mumbai. IED attacks are such that they are the most difficult to track, pre-empt and investigate. In the past, IEDs have been used during multiple instances in Delhi, Varanasi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Hyderabad and in Gujarat, to telling effect in terms of loss of human life and injury by shrapnel, especially in crowded areas such as market places, local trains and places of worship.

Jihadi strikes carried out using IEDs, wherein a pressure cooker can be turned into an explosive device, are most difficult to track simply because the attack can be broken down to multiple operatives and even “outsourced” to local criminals in exchange for money, say the officials.

Thus, a city such as Mumbai, which is a hub for the land- grabbing mafia and gold, arms and drugs smugglers and prostitution, becomes especially vulnerable. Proximity to Pakistan makes it that much more at risk. The attackers in the 2008 massacre arrived from the sea.

Although terrorists have also used RDX, which can bring down buildings, such sophisticated explosives are not easy to assemble and have to be smuggled into the country and can be tracked, as happened in the aftermath of 1993 Mumbai blasts. Thus suicide bombers and attackers regard IEDs as an effective substitute.

Attackers can be killed or caught as happened with the Delhi Parliament attack in 2001 and the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Satellite and mobile phones, interrogation of 2008 Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab, who was caught alive, reveal a lot to investigators.

There are also suggestions to make Mumbai, India’s biggest city and a huge metropolis run by the Maharashtra state government, into a separate political entity like Delhi to pin political responsibility for managing internal security. Delhi, which was made into a separate state, has had some success in thwarting terror attacks. The city was last hit by serial IED blasts in October 2005 that killed 55 people. India also had success in tackling terrorism in Punjab in the 1980s when the state police under K PS Gill succeeded in eliminating militancy for good.

If the country doesn’t ultimately get its act right against terrorism, whether outsourced by jihadis or committed by suicide bombers themselves, apart from ramping up at all levels to guard against the equally venomous suicide and sophisticated bomb attacks, it appears that the terrorists will continue to regard Mumbai as a soft target, and that tragedy will continue.

(Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist. He can be reached at sidsri@yahoo.com )
sanjeevpunj
BRFite
Posts: 971
Joined: 04 Sep 2009 13:10

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by sanjeevpunj »

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... 240414.681
Bomb blast kills five in northeast India.
GUWAHATI, India — At least five people died in a bomb blast Monday in a market place in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, which has been plagued for decades by separatist militants, police said.Twenty others were injured in the explosion, which took place on the outskirts of state capital Imphal.
Vashishtha
BRFite
Posts: 269
Joined: 12 Jun 2010 23:06
Location: look behind you

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by Vashishtha »

It seems like when every other option for the the congress is slowly dying, appeasing the muslim votebank is all they can rely on, however costing the country its security and diplomatic stand... A$$#0L3S!!!

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... epage=true
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 59773
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by ramana »

Vashishtha wrote:It seems like when every other option for the the congress is slowly dying, appeasing the muslim votebank is all they can rely on, however costing the country its security and diplomatic stand... A$$#0L3S!!!

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/a ... epage=true

I think the Varanasi blast and the Mumbai blasts are linked together. Same modus operandi. So whoever did the Varanasi blast inspired the Mumbai blasts now.

Most likely it was vote consolidation by Digvijay Singh type forces. The UPA spokesman line shows that line of reasoning.

The key markers are:
- Use of ANFO to allow local Indian sourced materials.
- A new way to boost it has been found and not easily identifiable as shown by repeated failures over last couple of years.
- And national investigation teams rush in and come up with inconclusive or conflicting identifications. This ensures confusion. There should be only one national team to enusre accontablity. Now there are multiple teams and they give conflicting reports.
- Invariable INC spokesman blames Hindu terrorism within days if not hours of the blast.
- Then PC and his minions in MHA make vague unnamed statements to reinforce the INC message.
- One key marker is the blasts are in non-BJP ruled states as police is local.

Bollywood has the pulse of the issues which the other media wont and will not articulate.

So look for films that explore the issues.
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 59773
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by ramana »

Bingo!!!!


Economic Times:

Varanasi Blast trail likely to lead to 13/7 Mumbai serial blasts
NEW DELHI: Central security agencies are concerned at the failure of the Varanasi blasts investigators to secure the electronic trail of e-mail and suspect phone calls made just before and after the December 2010 bomb attack, as they feel this could hold the key to a common perpetrator who also executed the recent Mumbai blasts.

Both the e-mail, sent out barely minutes after the Varanasi blasts in the name of Al Fateh, a purported front of Indian Mujahideen, and at least two calls made by a person using a cellphone near the Sheetla Ghat, were traced to Mumbai by the Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorism squad (ATS). While the e-mail was sent by hacking into an unsecured Wifi network based in Navi Mumbai, the calls were traced to Bhendi Bazaar in Mumbai.

Unfortunately, the electronic trail appears to have run dry from there. While the suspect cellphone, with a SIM acquired on fake documents, was switched off soon after the blasts, no clues emerged from the numbers called either. Though the UP ATS tried to get the electronic whiff of calls made by the suspect using a second phone, the logistics of the search turned out to be too complex to throw up any lead.
Its very crucial that IM leads lead to Mumbai under INC. So the leads turn cold.
Prem
BRF Oldie
Posts: 21233
Joined: 01 Jul 1999 11:31
Location: Weighing and Waiting 8T Yconomy

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by Prem »

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/08/04 ... ai-blasts/
Government: Indian Group Likely Behind Mumbai Blasts
NEW DELHI -- India's home minister says indications point to domestic terrorism behind the attack last month in Mumbai that killed 26 people.Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told Parliament in a debate Thursday that no conclusion had been reached but all indications were an Indian group was responsible.His comments reported by the Press Trust of India were the first indication of what the investigation has uncovered since the attack July 13.No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings. Local police have said the attack carried the hallmarks of the Indian Mujahedeen but have not elaborated.
abhishek_sharma
BRF Oldie
Posts: 9664
Joined: 19 Nov 2009 03:27

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by abhishek_sharma »

Why Mumbai Needs a Mayor: The Consequences of India's Hands-Off Democracy
The three bomb blasts that hit Mumbai during rush hour on July 13 highlighted both India's endemic vulnerability to terrorist violence and the serious deficiencies in its security infrastructure that must be addressed to keep the country safe.

Since 2003, Mumbai has suffered four major terrorist attacks, including one in November 2008, during which terrorists killed 164 and injured 308. Although Mumbai seemed to return to normal the day after the most recent bombings (they were relatively small, killing 24 and injuring 131 more), it is hard to live in the city, or have friends and family living there, without feeling that the country's national and state governments are simply unable to fulfill India's security needs. To be sure, defending a city in India from terrorism is a task more Herculean than defending London or New York City. Mumbai is an endless sprawl of millions; the state can hardly provide basic services, let alone protect its citizens. And most astonishingly, Mumbai, like other major Indian cities, does not even have a mayor with the authority and resources to try.

The biggest problem regarding security is the structural division between the national and local governments. The official report on the 2008 attacks criticized them both for failing to maintain ready and capable police forces. It also highlighted the lack of coordination among the police, intelligence agencies, and government once the attacks were under way. Nearly three years later, the Mumbai security forces appeared to have been no better prepared to prevent terrorist attacks.

Within hours of the blasts, Prithviraj Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra, the state in which Mumbai is located, claimed that the national government had never cleared a 2008 request from the Mumbai police (which he supervises as the chief executive authority of the state) for 5,000 closed-circuit cameras. The televisions may not have prevented the July 13 attacks but would have aided the investigation of them. He also claimed that he was in the state government offices during the explosions along with other senior officials and "felt so helpless when I could not get across to the police chief, as all lines were jammed. We need to upgrade the communication system."

In New Delhi, Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's minister of home affairs, quickly announced that the bombings did not result from an intelligence failure. But in 2008, India's Intelligence Bureau failed to follow up on leads about the mobile SIM card numbers used by the Mumbai attackers. The intelligence agencies may not have had such specific clues this time, but there is little doubt that India's security infrastructure remains ineffective. For a man who was appointed as home minister after the 2008 attacks because of his reputation for effective administration, Chidambaram has been tilting at windmills, wanting to change things but achieving little. He created a national counterterrorism response center and a national investigative agency, but these sit atop a horribly mismanaged policing system (it has many, many departments) that is virtually unaltered since British rule. The colonial policing model was meant to be hands-off until a crisis, at which point it would respond with a show of force. It remains hands-off today: A lone armored personnel carrier sits near the exit of Mumbai's international airport while masses of people and cars jockey to pick up arriving passengers. One APC would be powerless to detect or stop anyone carrying a bomb into the area.

Meanwhile, India has one of the lowest police-to-population ratios in the world: For every 100,000 people, the country has only 142 police (Australia has 290, Britain 200, and the United States 315). Fifteen percent of the jobs with the Mumbai police department, one of the biggest in the country, are unfilled. Nationwide, over 250,000 police positions are vacant. Police officers in some Indian states report not having paper to write up complaints or gasoline to run vehicles.

Severely underpaid, the police force is easily bribed and often colludes with the political class to maintain their respective power. Torture and forced confessions are common, and criminal courts rarely convict anyone. Terrorism courts have even lower rates of conviction because judges are generally skeptical of police evidence. Calls for reforms to help the police better prevent and manage crises remain unmet. For example, the latest commission tasked with studying police reform suggested implementing fixed tenure for state police chiefs, in order to insulate them and their ranks from political influence. No state government has agreed to follow the commission's recommendation.

This dysfunction is a result of the government structure. The Indian constitution makes law and order the responsibility of state governments, not national agencies, but does not give them enough funding to uphold them. In turn, even though the central government would like the police to reform, it is powerless to compel them to do so. India's democracy has survived by ruling with a light hand, and Indian society organizes itself in myriad and fractured ways, as the state sits by as a symbol.

The light touch was meant to hold a diverse country together and should have protected it from homegrown terrorism by allowing all ethnic and religious groups to flourish politically, socially, and economically. But the recent attacks challenge that notion. In the days after the bombing, the police department blamed a group called Indian Mujahideen, although no one has yet claimed responsibility. The Indian Mujahideen is an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India; the Indian government banned both groups. The Indian Mujahideen is a tiny organization, with membership in the tens, not even hundreds, with limited training. It and similar groups have repeatedly claimed that they seek retribution for state-backed Hindu militancy in Mumbai in 1992 and in Gujarat in 2006. And with a Muslim population larger than the entire population of Pakistan, India must be careful about convincing Muslims to buy into the Indian dream of economic and political success. The Indian government's official position is that Islamic radicalization outside of Kashmir is not serious, but the Indian Mujaideen and others groups have repeatedly claimed that they seek retribution against state-backed Hindu militancy such as in Mumbai in 1992 and in Gujarat in 2006.

The obvious solution to the policing problem would seem to be deeper central government involvement. But if the national government became more intrusive by according to itself more policing powers at the cost of the states', it would risk losing legitimacy. Indian democracy remains strong because the government is not omnipresent.

Moreover, the central government's past attempts to involve itself in local affairs were fraught. Although it has quashed Marxist insurgencies and separatist movements in West Bengal, Punjab, and Kashmir, these campaigns left thousands missing and dead and led to horrendous human rights violations.

Rather than push through necessary police reforms, the Indian government has been busy fighting embarrassment stemming from errors in a list of terrorists Delhi wanted Pakistan to extradite as part of a joint counter-terrorism mechanism. Two of the men on the list turned out to be in India; one was lodged in a Mumbai prison. The gaffe was emblematic of the larger problems in the Indian security system: if the government cannot ensure the accuracy of its most wanted list, how can it be expected to protect the country. If the people of Mumbai want a safer city, the city must be able to govern itself. After the 2008 attacks, the Mumbai businessman Anand Mahindra suggested that the city needed a chief executive akin to a mayor of a U.S. city. If the Mumbai government had authority and resources, it could recruit more police officers, pay them wages that are not tied to the pay scale for the relatively poor state of Maharashtra, and develop a police force more representative of the city. Instead, Mumbai is waiting for a nod from New Delhi to buy security cameras.
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 59773
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by ramana »

How will a mayor solve the problems when the Chief Minister cant get clearance form MHA to install cc cameras?
Ambar
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3173
Joined: 12 Jun 2010 09:56
Location: Weak meek unkil Sam!

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by Ambar »

Why do they need central clearance to install security cameras in the city ? You get high resolution security cameras for as little as 50$/camera.That's 250k$/1.2 crores - chump change for a city like Mumbai. If the government cannot even get 5000 cameras, let them force businesses to install cameras or face stiff fines.Atleast that'll ensure the city with plenty of surveillance cameras.
shiv
BRF Oldie
Posts: 34982
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: Pindliyon ka Gooda

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by shiv »

ramana wrote:How will a mayor solve the problems when the Chief Minister cant get clearance form MHA to install cc cameras?
Appears like a bureaucratic self-goal/Gordian knot

"Security" is a central subject, but the local government needs security cameras. X dept cannot agree unless dept Y passes it. dept Y has to have inputs from dept A, B and C before passing it to dept X - and so on..
sanjeevpunj
BRFite
Posts: 971
Joined: 04 Sep 2009 13:10

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by sanjeevpunj »

shiv wrote:
ramana wrote:How will a mayor solve the problems when the Chief Minister cant get clearance form MHA to install cc cameras?
Appears like a bureaucratic self-goal/Gordian knot

"Security" is a central subject, but the local government needs security cameras. X dept cannot agree unless dept Y passes it. dept Y has to have inputs from dept A, B and C before passing it to dept X - and so on..
Thats where corruption steps in, Dept Y says matters will be delayed, pretending they have not received inputs from A,B and C. Pssssssssssst....."Give something under the table, we shall clear it soon"
vera_k
BRF Oldie
Posts: 3986
Joined: 20 Nov 2006 13:45

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by vera_k »

As with other matters, this is a consequence of having a highly centralised governments. Things will improve gradually as people learn to govern themselves, and demand more autonomy.
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 59773
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by ramana »

Ambar wrote:Why do they need central clearance to install security cameras in the city ? You get high resolution security cameras for as little as 50$/camera.That's 250k$/1.2 crores - chump change for a city like Mumbai. If the government cannot even get 5000 cameras, let them force businesses to install cameras or face stiff fines.Atleast that'll ensure the city with plenty of surveillance cameras.
Ambar,

I have seen ZEETV interviews with Zhaveri Bazar merchants who said they want to install CC cameras themselves as they are tired of the many bomb blasts since 1993. However they need permission to instal on the street. Individual shopkeeprs can install in their shops but the viewing angle is limited. The CM wont instal nor let them do it. One is forced to think other itnerests are at play here when the easy measures are not adopted.
IndraD
BRF Oldie
Posts: 9319
Joined: 26 Dec 2008 15:38
Location: भारत का निश्चेत गगन

Re: Serial Blasts in Mumbai

Post by IndraD »

Post Reply