Terror Attacks in Mumbai - III

[Philip]

Israel praises Indian rescue efforts
IAF jet to return Mumbai victims' bodies to Israel / Alex Fishman

Delegation of anti-terror experts headed to India to investigate terror attack that left at least eight Israelis dead; forensic team also sent to retrieve bodies
Full Story

A Foreign Ministry announcement published Sunday said, "The Foreign Ministry denies any and all publications stating that Israel has criticized Indian commando activity in the freeing of the Chabad center."

Yossi Levy, the Foreign Ministry's spokesperson for domestic media, stressed that "from the very beginning, the Indians cooperated with Israel on the most senior levels, including intelligence information and any aid that Israel requested".


Levy went on to say that Israel was "convinced that the Indian forces did everything in their power to avoid harming the captives and civilians during the storming of the Chabad house.

"The relations between Israel and India are based on deep and joint understandings that have passed the test in these moments of crisis," he said.

Indian army 'trained and proficient'
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also praised his counterparts in New Delhi and Mumbai, and at the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting thanked the Indian authorities for their cooperation and care for the Jewish and Israeli hostages.

Olmert also stressed that at no point did Israel consider sending its own troops to assist the "trained and proficient" Indian army.

"The images of the Jewish victims and the horrific sight of the Chabad house managers wrapped in prayer shawls are shocking and take us back to images from history that we hoped wouldn't repeat themselves," Olmert said. "But it seems that the hatred of Jews and Israelis is what spurs these horrible deeds.

"Last week marked one of the worse acts of terror ever to take place in India. These acts are the fruit of unrestrained extreme Islam, that is trying to sew death and destruction wherever it can."

Regarding the investigation to take place over the next few days, Olmert said Israel has offered full cooperation and aid to the Indian government, and added that the Israeli government was "doing and will continue to do" whatever it takes to defense Jewish institutes around the world.

Before the cabinet meeting, several ministers suggested providing further security to Chabad houses around the world.

Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai said, "We must examine ways to defend and secure Chabad houses, were tens of thousands of sons of Israel enter and leave."

Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim said, "Chabad has a responsibility towards Israelis that show up at its institutes around the world. The professional bodies in Israel should instruct the organization on what to do to protect them."

Meanwhile, tensions were on the rise in the Indian sub-continent as some of the intelligence and security officials have reached their own conclusions and announced their resignation.

Roni Sofer contributed to this report

[Rahul M]

My response for what Indian needs to do now to respond to Pakistan would be as follows:

Priority 1: Launch Air strikes at terror camps (I know that these are just a couple mud huts) But there are military garrisons next to them where Pak Army officers train them terrorists.
This does not have to be an all out attack, specific strikes on a few dozen targets only. Then wait for the other side to escalate. Half of their backup troops are on the other side of the border, and will take 1 week + to come to the eastern front. Their main strike elements were always here.

If pakistan dares to escalate, escalate stepwise as they do, and inflict controlled heavy damage to their armed forces.

Advance the LOC Westwards

The Navy should take out at least one Agosta 90b and cripple another. This can be done either in the thick of battle or later (See Below)

The international community will try to settle things down, but will not be able to deny indian reasoning. China's passes with India on the himalayas are snowed out NOW, china will not be able to make much distracting land moves across the LAC or the International Border.

2. If MMS does not have the balls for this offensive, There is yet another option. The Sly Hindu way - forgive the pun.
Pakistan is a nation that is overawed by India - wants credibility within india. We NEED to taunt it, prick it, pinch it where it hurts.

I get the feeling that One 5 star hotel blowing up lead them to target two of ours. So reply in kind, with the aim of dismembering this nation as the ultimate goal, spreading widespread chaos and economic bankruptcy and mayhem as an intermediate goal.

The Navy or the Airforce can hurt them by doing an Atlantique on them, taunt them-draw them out and kill them. Again aim for where it hurts them the most - The new agostas, Recon Aircraft that they've procured etc.

For this RAW will have to be re-energized, coffers will have to be opened.

3. Protect ourselves from the next attack - because there is one coming in a few months.
All this crap about police reforms - At least Fckuing fill up the enormous vacancies that there are in the police force. This is the biggest problem - the police are first of all inadequately staffed, THEN inadequately equipped. The government sloth is the obstacle against timely recruitment, low priority by the state governments towards the security apparatus is the reason behind the ill equipped force - money will have to be diverted from useless (Netaon Ki) garibi hatao schemes.

JMHO

Guys, no govt in their right mind is going to attack a nuke armed psycho with a himalayan H&D complex without dealing with the nukes first.

that is the only way, destroy pakistan's nuclear capability in a pre-emptive strike and you'll find even the kangress govt will suddenly find balls to take out terrorist camps.

One thing this will require is meticulous planning and intel effort (including HUMINT) to do a book keeping of the paki jewels, how many, in what condition and where ?

[SaiK]

Come on, all it took was one terrorist on the staff to call and say:

Time for the Glory of Allah!

as the code to say "all clear on security".

And it is clear that the ammo-smuggling etc. had already occurred long before the security alert went in. The question to ask is, who did the cleaning of Room 630, and is it usual for hotel rooms to have so many boxes inside? But then, remember, this is a place where the Very Rich and Very Powerful stay, so the staff are trained not to ask questions at goings-on that would bring immediate manager attention at any small motel.

Maybe the terrorists were dressed as Houris, with the blonde wigs and fat asses and all.

The Taj is (was?) a HOTEL, and they would naturally bring down security to as unobtrusive a level as possible. Banning cars from the front entrance is not something a 5-star hotel can keep doing, unless there is an imminent threat.

everyone in the net.. so to speak.. it could be the rich and famous links to "time for the glory of allah" team. every one is an illegal in one sense, thats what i gather from your intelligent goodie post. i understand. its sad state of affairs, where one illegal though appears to be having valid ids, is equivalent to a fake paki.

a system of loop holes, a system of denials, a system of dangerous corruption culture, a system of cheating and lying society., and a system of worst democratic values on the face of the planet.. so on..

i hang my head.

[SSridhar]

Was just watching Yashwant Sinha's interview by Karan Thapar. Could catch only the last few minutes. But, he was quite clear and for a change I heard a politician who said it was Pakistan that was involved, and he was not going to distinguish between the Government and 'rogue elements' because if one did so, then it meant that the government is totally incompetent and that still doesn't absolve them of their responsibility. He said that Zardari cannot deliver because he doesn't have power as was proven in the reinstatement of the ISI back to military. He said that it was ISI that was ruling the country.

[harbans]

But this has been India's SOP against Baki terror over the years and everyone knows what we have achieved so far. All I am trying to say is lets keep up the pressure on the diplomatic front as always and at the same time start looking for other solutions like covert actions or whatever it takes to get the desired results.

I do agree with everything else you've written but this part i want to point a few things. Firstly India has not identified clearly and consistently what it wants from Pakistan. We have different lobbies wanting different approaches and thus there is exploitable factions for sauve Pakistani spokespersons. The abaility to be consistent in ones expectations of another country is not easily achievable by grandiose reactions. It comes for example like in 2006 MMSs failure to tell Pakistan that it will be considered as a victim of terror like India if and ONLY if it hands Dawood. India never did that. Instead without Pakistan doing anything concrete vis a vis the Dawood network it got the credibility of a Victim.

Thus Indian demands for normalcy should have been based on very simple doable things from the Paki establishment. Pressure should have been applied on US to make Pakistan do these simple firsts to achieve credibility. But no. Some talked war, some blasting fluid training camps, some despaired and thus we had no consensus building on how we should curb terror. This lack of identifying simple 101 steps for Pakistan to take to curb terror in India has not been done in a sustanined manner by India.

This is the right time to begin it while there is international sympathy for us. Putting large troop formations will not waver the Porki. It's a good excuse for hardline elements in the ISI / PA to let the talibunnies take over. And then they can openly blame India for acting rashly. And that certainly will be close to the truth.

At this juncture we should snap our fragile ties to the minimal till they hand over LeT Heads and Dawood. This is a must. I doubt but MMS and Co to get any credibility will have to put this condition as #1 very early, maybe by tomorrow or a day or two itself.

[Rahul M]

In fact, de-nuking pakistan is the first step of BR's pearl of wisdom :

"Give peace a chance, destroy pakistan."

[Singha]

pakis have no h&d. they gubo twice a week for predator drone sessions.
both US or India can destroy them twice over if n-weapons are used and
pakis are free to jdam DC/LA/NYC in retaliation for drone strikes but dont.

the pakis will shout and whine, but gubo for india also when we "go in" esp
things like taking out discrete military or economic targets than a mass scale war on their population.

[Rahul M]

pakis have no h&d. they gubo twice a week for predator drone sessions.
both US or India can destroy them twice over if n-weapons are used and
pakis are free to jdam DC/LA/NYC in retaliation for drone strikes but dont.

WRT US but not WRT India. I'm not talking about the RAPE.

[Singha]

anything that accelerates the talibunny takeover and final estrangement from US, along with murder of the civilian govt in pak is good for India imo.

we dont want a peaceful and secure pakistan, getting lapdog gifts from both
US and China to pester India.

if that means temporarily pissing off Massa and get "hit" with travel advisories er so be it. I dont think travel budgets are going to be healthy
for next 2-3 yrs surely.

[Pranay]

Mumbai attackers trained by special forces: Russian expert
30 Nov 2008, 2046 hrs IST, PTI


MOSCOW: A top Russian counter-terrorism expert on Sunday underlined that the Mumbai attackers were not "ordinary terrorists" and were probably
trained by the special operations forces set up in Pakistan by the US intelligence prior to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"The handwriting and character of the Mumbai events demonstrates that they were not ordinary terrorists," said Vladimir Klyukin, an Afghan war veteran.

"Behind this terrorist attack there are 'Green Flag' special operations forces, which were created by the Americans in Pakistan, just an year before the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, and in the initial period were under full US control," stressed Klyukin, a veteran of the special "Vympel" commando group of the former Soviet KGB.

He said for such guerrilla operations at least two-three years of preparatory work with the involvement of experienced instructors is required.

Klyukin did not rule out that the Mumbai attackers could have taken part in similar attacks in other regions.

"People from the streets, without any planning and training are simply not able to hold four big complexes in a city so long," Soviet special services veteran was quoted as saying by largest Russian Interfax news agency.

He also presumed that there were at least 50 attackers given the geography and scale of the strikes.

Klyukin lauded the "right" decision of the Indian authorities not to succumb to terrorist demands.

He, however, regretted that India lacks special anti-terror units similar to the Russian, Israeli, British or German.

Nearly 200 people were killed in the multiple terror attacks in the Indian financial capital, hitting five-star hotels and other targets frequented by Westerners.

[sum]

Any saw the "We the people" on NDTV?

Simi Garhewal mentioned that most slums in Mumbai flying Paki flags when pandemonium broke loose...Some dude started blabbering/shouting that enemy in not Pak and Muslims and walked away...Anyone know who he was?

Burqa got stunned and didnt know what to do for a couple of minutes and started blabbering incoherently...Then, she composed herself and said that it was very avaoidable situation and we shouldn't bring religious divisions at this time...Pray,tell me as how how mentioning Paki flags in Mumbai is religious division?
It is these p-secs who are the main cause of all problem who keep egging the muslims that evil Hindu lurking in the corner and they must do something.Truely sad situation.

[Sai]

Was just watching Yashwant Sinha's interview by Karan Thapar. Could catch only the last few minutes. But, he was quite clear and for a change I heard a politician who said it was Pakistan that was involved, and he was not going to distinguish between the Government and 'rogue elements' because if one did so, then it meant that the government is totally incompetent and that still doesn't absolve them of their responsibility. He said that Zardari cannot deliver because he doesn't have power as was proven in the reinstatement of the ISI back to military. He said that it was ISI that was ruling the country.

Missed this. What were the questions asked? Was Thapar his usual ahole self or did he ask some pertinent, meaningful questions?

[p_saggu]

I remember reading a Russian news report that looked pretty authentic on the state of Pakistan's Nuclear weapons, here is a jist of what it said and what I think is the situation.

1. Pakistan has about 30 uranium based nuclear warheads presently, said to be dispersed in small numbers across the nation close to airforce bases.

2. The chinese took back missile capable nukes when the US objected, the ones pakistan has left either have PALs, but are only capable of being air delivered by eff solahs.
I don't know but their ballistic missiles are not capable or the nukes themselves are of an unstable design??? Also perhaps explains their desire to acquire Cruise Missile option - essentially the same as an aircraft delivered option.

3. If true, this leaves only two options for pakistan for nuclear weapons use against India
a) Eff Solah route - Its reach into india would only be about 100 kms or so from the international border, before it will be shot down by IAF / Air defence network. So no metro city is threatened.
b) JDAM route - I think the Navy and CG has taken measures to vigorously screen maritime traffic coming in from pakistan, but as we've seen this remains the weak link. As things stand this will remain a weakness from our side.

What do the gurus say?

[Pranay]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7757122.stm

Officials quit over India attacks

Latest news Correspondents In pictures Events unfold Key sites map Eyewitness

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil and national security adviser MK Narayanan have submitted their resignations in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

The moves come amid growing pressure on the Indian government to explain why it was unable to prevent the militant strike in which at least 172 died.

It is not clear whether Mr Narayanan's resignation has been accepted.

The attacks have increased tensions with Pakistan after allegations the gunmen had Pakistani links.

Islamabad denies any involvement, but India's Deputy Home Minister, Shakeel Ahmad, told the BBC it was "very clearly established" that all the attackers were from Pakistan.

"Whether they had government backing or whether there was any official involvement in it - it will come to light after proper investigation," Mr Ahmad said.

Last gunman killed

The home minister wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "owning moral responsibility" for the attacks, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder, in Delhi, says.

His resignation has been accepted, and more departures may follow, our correspondent adds.




In pictures: Mumbai aftermath
Mumbai police mourn their dead
'Mumbai is in full mourning'
The resignations come ahead of an all party meeting set for Sunday evening, which is poised to discuss new anti-terror measures in India - including new anti-terror laws, and the possible creation of new anti-terror agency.

Hundreds of people took to the streets of Mumbai on Sunday to protest at what they say were government failures in the face of the attacks.

Protesters say the authorities should have been more prepared for the attacks and also question whether warnings were ignored, and how long it took commandos to reach the scenes of the attacks.


See a detailed map of the area
Meanwhile, Cafe Leopold - one of the firsts target of the attacks on Wednesday evening - briefly reopened on Sunday in what its owner said was a show of defiance to the "terrorists".

As customers entered the cafe, staff wearing red polo shirts burst into applause and one man led a cheer of "God bless India".

"We will prove to terrorists by opening that we have won, you have not won," said Farhang Jehani, who owns and runs the cafe with his brother.

Death toll

Indian troops killed the last of the gunmen at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel on Saturday.


More resignations are expected to follow that of Shivraj Patil

As few as 10 militants may have been involved in the assault which saw attacks in multiple locations including two hotels, a major railway station, a hospital and a Jewish centre.

While the vast majority of victims were Indians, at least 22 foreigners are known to have died, including victims from Israel, the US, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, Italy, Singapore, Thailand and France. One Briton, Andreas Liveras, was also killed.

Some of the gunmen came ashore by rubber dinghy on the night the killing began, others are reported to have been in the city for months gathering information on their targets.

The number of people killed remains unclear.

India's home ministry said the official toll in Mumbai was 183 killed, but earlier disaster authorities said at least 195 people had been killed and 295 wounded.

On Sunday morning the state governor put the death toll for the bombings at 172, although this could rise if more bodies are discovered in the search of the siege hotels.

Claim of responsibility

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said earlier he believed that a group based outside India was behind the killings and senior Indian politicians have said the only surviving gunman to be captured is from Pakistan.

A claim of responsibility for this week's attacks was made by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen - a reference to a mainly Muslim region of India.

According to a statement leaked to Indian newspapers, the one alleged militant captured alive, named as Azam Amir Qasab, said the Mumbai militants had received training from an Islamist group once backed by Pakistani intelligence, Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Pakistan banned the group in 2002 at US insistence.

[Dilbu]

Harbansji I agree with you. We should formulate an action plan and stick with it to have lasting solution. Even if it takes years of effort and continuation of a consistent policy on TSP by different governments coming into power. I think this is where we have gone wrong in our TSP policy (if we ever had a policy on it). While NDA goes about guns blazing about it, UPA keeps doing chai-biskoot. At the end of the day no result is to be seen.

I sincerely hope this is the turning point. Let the all party chai-biskoot session come to a decision over a firm TSP policy to be continued by all parties coming to power till we get the desired results. Anyone who goes lax on TSP should face the wrath of the electorate.

Well I must be dreaming, time to wake up, grab some poporn and watch NDTV.

[renukb]

Hmmmm.....Could this be true?

No ordinary terrorists: Russian expert
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/30m ... expert.htm

A top Russian counter-terrorism expert today underlined that the Mumbai attackers were not "ordinary terrorists" and were probably trained by the special operations forces set up in Pakistan by US intelligence prior to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"The handwriting and character of the Mumbai events demonstrates that they were not ordinary terrorists," said Vladimir Klyukin, an Afghan war veteran.

"Behind this terrorist attack there are 'Green Flag' special operations forces, which were created by the Americans in Pakistan, just an year before the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, and in the initial period were under full US control," stressed Klyukin, a veteran of the special Vympel commando group of the former Soviet KGB.

He said for such guerrilla operations at least two, three years of preparatory work with the involvement of experienced instructors is required. Klyukin did not rule out that the Mumbai attackers could have taken part in similar attacks in other regions.

"People from the streets, without any planning and training are simply not able to hold four big complexes in a city so long," the Soviet special services veteran was quoted as saying by largest Russian Interfax news agency.

He also presumed that there were at least 50 attackers given the geography and scale of the strikes. Klyukin lauded the "right" decision of the Indian authorities not to succumb to terrorist demands.

He, however, regretted that India lacks special anti-terror units similar to the Russian, Israeli, British or German.

[Gerard]

ah... these experts... so expert at so many expert things....

[Rahul M]

He, however, regretted that India lacks special anti-terror units similar to the Russian, Israeli, British or German.

this is wrong and most probably the PTI dork has mis-quoted him.
rest is mostly true. at least plausible.

[samuel.chandra]

Completely agree. The only way to deal with TSP is hitting them hard militarily and economically(preferably, naval blockade). We have to understand the psychology of the pakis. They will not respond rationally to our rational approaches. We have to get irrational this time.

If you compare Kargil and Mumbai, there are similarities:
In kargil, IA never expected them to attack at the height of winter. That was stupid and they paid for it.
In mumbai, its odd that they attacked westerners and jews. The amount of media coverage we received was a direct result of this. Noone will fault India now for retaliating.

So if we keep thinking rationally, we will keep getting surprised because TSP is working irrationally. We need to give them pain this time. thats the only deterrent.

pakis have no h&d. they gubo twice a week for predator drone sessions.
both US or India can destroy them twice over if n-weapons are used and
pakis are free to jdam DC/LA/NYC in retaliation for drone strikes but dont.

the pakis will shout and whine, but gubo for india also when we "go in" esp
things like taking out discrete military or economic targets than a mass scale war on their population.

[SaiK]

time to ask bush.. is he still with Osama and mush?

or

will take anti-pork stand.

[Vivek_A]

Simi Garhewal mentioned that most slums in Mumbai flying Paki flags when pandemonium broke loose...Some dude started blabbering/shouting that enemy in not Pak and Muslims and walked away...Anyone know who he was?

There's not paki flags. They are all green/red stars with the crescent moon and star. No white bar at the side.

I doubt Simi has even seen a picture of a mumbai slum, much less walk through it.

[abhijitm]

a mail from one of my friends.

Dear friends,

It's really a sad week for all of us!...During this grievance, what we least expect from the so called responsible TV media is some sensible telecast of these appalling events. They should refrain themselves from some irrelevant stuffs as well.

On the contrary, on 28th November 2009, on NDTV 24X7, Mr. Pranoy ROY, a renowned personality in the TV media, missed no chance to spread venom against the Maharashtrians!...

Smses asking where Raj Thakaray and his MNS 'goondas' have been hidden and Mumbai was rescued by the north n south indian NSG persons (not by MARATHI maanoos)etc. had been splashed.

I am not a Raj THAKARAY fan, nor SUPPORT his violent tactics. What these people (WHO questioned marathi maanoos!) expect from the political parties (read: shivsena, mns, congress, bjp, everyone!!) in this grave situation. It was the duty of the security force, correct?...And we do admire them for their courage!

But you may not disagree that these political workers might have contributed by donating blood for sure. And they haven't used this opportunity for their poor political gains. They will NOT dare to do so, correct?...At least You will agree upon this!

But it was totally a biased view from a renowned tv channel like NDTV. Some sick people are using media in a wrong way and NDTV should have acted responsibly in this dire situation.

I highly condemn such untimely and shameful act done by a reputed TV channel like NDTV. It was really unfair on the part of MARATHI manoos!...

regards,
Sambhaji Chopdekar

I am Marathi too. In any way I dont agree with Raj Thakare. But why anger against all Marathis? I am angry on NDTV too. I am an Indian first but NDTV journalists have shown their narrow mentality. They are using media as a weapon for their own ill minded propoganda.

This is the time to stick together and fight against enemy. Look who is cashing on this situation now. Dirty politicians and tv channels like NDTV.

If Raj Thakare is an enemy of the society, so are people like Pranab Roy and Barakha Dutt.

thanks,
Abhijit

[sum]

3. If true, this leaves only two options for pakistan for nuclear weapons use against India
a) Eff Solah route - Its reach into india would only be about 100 kms or so from the international border, before it will be shot down by IAF / Air defence network. So no metro city is threatened.
b) JDAM route - I think the Navy and CG has taken measures to vigorously screen maritime traffic coming in from pakistan, but as we've seen this remains the weak link. As things stand this will remain a weakness from our side.

Im really afraid that the worst case scenario of JDAM in Indai might come true any time...

The pakis are slowly escalating the strikes every time(first crude bombs, then RDX, now full scale raid) and looking out for the Indian response...
If we go by the GoI response for a almost commando style raid(with paki footprints all over the place), i wouldn't be surprised if the Pakis feel that even a JDAM will be easily disowned as "rogue elements" and can be given a try.

The GoI response to such escalations hold the key and it has been very very pathetic so far...no reason to believe that a JDAM will cause a different reaction since even that can be explained away as "sections of rogue Pakis"...Very scary days for us ahead.

[harbans]

I sincerely hope this is the turning point. Let the all party chai-biskoot session come to a decision over a firm TSP policy to be continued by all parties coming to power till we get the desired results. Anyone who goes lax on TSP should face the wrath of the electorate.

Right! By a war mongering posture we will only succeed in rehyphenating with them. We cannot afford to talk in different voices. We need consistency in our approach. Getting the Le T head and Dawood will be a BIG achievement and blow. We also must instead of throwing blame learn and close loopholes from this incident.

Also if you notice now there are a lot of mainstream outlets and lots of people talking on dismembering Pakistan. If we clearly demonstrate that Pakistan is unable and unwilling to handover Dawood/ Le T heads the world will intrinsically realize this is not a sustainable nation state in the normal/ peaceful sense of the word. Dismembering it will imply denuking it essentially. Talibunnies taking over at this juncture will imply an emergency denuking of the State urgently by US/ India/ Israel.

The time has come for Pakistan to walk the talk and India to demand it from them in as humiliating a manner as possible.

[vsudhir]

Hanging afzal at this stage is a catch-22 for the UPA.

If you hang, question will be 'why not before? This is poll stunt onlee'. If you don't hang, well afzal will make NDA poll posters everywhere onlee.

I can't still understand the reluctance to hang afzal after all that has happened over the past 2 yrs with so many terror attacks. Is the INC high command really that removed from reality and the pulse of the people?

[Aditya G]

Recording the list of security forces involved for on ground operations:

1. Mumbai police - regular
2. Mumbai police - ATS
3. Indian Navy - MARCOS
4. Indian Army - regular (for establishing perimeter outside Taj)
5. NSG
6. RPF and GRP (at CST Terminal)
7. private security guards (the very first people to make contact with the enemy)

Anything to be corrected here?

From what I saw on TV it seems RPF constables made the run for it when they attacked the station

[Ujjal]

Here comes our usual chain letters :

Hi,

I just signed an urgent message calling for unity following the attacks in Mumbai. Read the email below - Thanks

--------------------------

Dear friends across India and the world,

We're all feeling the shock of the awful attacks in Mumbai. All our hearts go out to the victims and their families.

The attacks were aimed at our people, our prosperity and our peace. But their top target was something else: our unity. If these attacks cause us to turn on each other in hatred and conflict, the terrorists will have won. They know that hatred and chaos feed on division. As radical extremists, their only hope of winning is by turning the rest of us against each other.

Let's deny them that victory. We're launching a message to extremists on all sides and all our political leaders, one that will soon be published in newspapers across India and Pakistan. The message is that these tactics have failed, that we're more united than ever, united in our love and support to each other, determined to work together against terror and call on our leaders to do the same. If millions of people sign it, our message will be unmistakable, click below to sign it and please forward this email widely:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/india_undivided ... _tf_sign=1

[jash_p]

Our cricketers are more patriotic than so called politicians(or seller of country like Lalu, Mulayam, MMS etc.)

Incidentally, senior Indian cricketers, including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag are unwilling to tour Pakistan and have reportedly conveyed their views to the BCCI.

Though Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Dhoni and his men were welcome to his country, sources said the risk of undertaking the tour was high, considering the prevailing security situation in Pakistan, and "no sensible government" would take it.

Hit hard by teams after teams refusing to tour the country because of the volatile security situation there, a trouble-torn Pakistan has not hosted a major international tournament since the Asia Cup in June this year.

The high-profile Champions Trophy, which was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan in September this year, had to be deferred with most teams refusing to tour the country.

The BCCI has already made it clear that it would tour Pakistan only after getting a go-ahead from the government which was apprehensive despite assurance of a fool-proof security arrangement.

Desperate to salvage the series, PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt decided to tour India to convince the BCCI top brass and also offered to shift the series to a neutral venue, possibly Abu Dhabi or England, but after the Mumbai attacks, even that possibility is now virtually non-existent.

[Ujjal]

TSP Amb. to US on CNN.

[sum]

Simi Garhewal mentioned that most slums in Mumbai flying Paki flags when pandemonium broke loose...Some dude started blabbering/shouting that enemy in not Pak and Muslims and walked away...Anyone know who he was?

There's not paki flags. They are all green/red stars with the crescent moon and star. No white bar at the side.

I doubt Simi has even seen a picture of a mumbai slum, much less walk through it.

Even i suspected that since every ghetto even in B'luru seems to have those. Bit reassuring that things having turned so bad!!!!

To be fair to her, she did say that she noticed it when she sees from rooftop of any building. I really wonder who that guy was though since he repeated at least 3-4 times that Pak is not our enemy and shouldn't be blamed?

[Rahul M]

Hanging afzal at this stage is a catch-22 for the UPA.

If you hang, question will be 'why not before? This is poll stunt onlee'. If you don't hang, well afzal will make NDA poll posters everywhere onlee.

I can't still understand the reluctance to hang afzal after all that has happened over the past 2 yrs with so many terror attacks. Is the INC high command really that removed from reality and the pulse of the people?

incidentally, UPA has the guts to hang patil(albeit politically but this amounts to a public execution for a politico) but not afzal.
says something about their mentality.

[Ujjal]

Wolf: Wasn't LeT created by ISI?
Husain Haqqani: Err, ah, ooh..Well, we don't know who created them.

[Ashwin B]

Something didn't add up.

When the CG personnel were murdered aboard Kuber, didn't (couldn't?) the mother CG ship raise an alarm?

What went wrong there? At that time Kuber had a huge stash of ammunition and could have prevented the carnage to a significant extent.

[Arjun]

Simi Garhewal mentioned that most slums in Mumbai flying Paki flags when pandemonium broke loose...Some dude started blabbering/shouting that enemy in not Pak and Muslims and walked away...Anyone know who he was?

There's not paki flags. They are all green/red stars with the crescent moon and star. No white bar at the side.

I doubt Simi has even seen a picture of a mumbai slum, much less walk through it.

So what flag is it supposed to be? I am curious.

[faraz]

Please do not believe people like Simi Garhewal ! Please do not differentiate between Indians.

I remember an Incident when a friend of mine told me that a Pakistani flag is flying on Mohammed Ali Road. I challenged him to show me that ! It turned out to be a regular Green flag with Star and Crescent put out during Moharram or ID !

No self-respecting Indian Muslim will support Pakistani terrorists at this time. The general feeling now is , " Saalon ko karachi mein ghus kar marna chahiye ! ".

Simi Garhewal mentioned that most slums in Mumbai flying Paki flags when pandemonium broke loose....Some dude started blabbering/shouting that enemy in not Pak and Muslims and walked away...Anyone know who he was?

There's not paki flags. They are all green/red stars with the crescent moon and star. No white bar at the side.

I doubt Simi has even seen a picture of a mumbai slum, much less walk through it.

[SandeepA]

I heard on TV that Dhoni said something like 'We are entertainers but this is not the time for entertainment'. Not sure I heard it right but if its true then I am a Dhoni fan from today.

[faraz]

It is a General Islamic flag put out during Moharram or ID or during Sandals of Peer Babas.

There's not paki flags. They are all green/red stars with the crescent moon and star. No white bar at the side.

I doubt Simi has even seen a picture of a mumbai slum, much less walk through it.

So what flag is it supposed to be? I am curious.

[sum]

There's not paki flags. They are all green/red stars with the crescent moon and star. No white bar at the side.

I doubt Simi has even seen a picture of a mumbai slum, much less walk through it.

So what flag is it supposed to be? I am curious.

Local Islamic flags.....seem to be in every ghetto in every city...same as Paki flag except no white stripe.

Mostly was adopted by IMs to ensure that its doesn't get mistaken with Paki flag and cause riots(since im assuming that the default Islamic flag is the Paki flag!!??)

[Vivek_A]

CM deskmukh took his son for the taj tour today. ram gopal varma who was with son also tagged along. he has clarified that he never ever intends to make a film on this issue.

I'm sure Shah Rukh Khan will make Main Hoon Na-2. Portraying India and TSP as equal victims of a group of rogue indian army elements.

[Rahul M]

I heard on TV that Dhoni said something like 'We are entertainers but this is not the time for entertainment'. Not sure I heard it right but if its true then I am a Dhoni fan from today.

dhoni is a pretty patriotic bloke with friends in IAF.

when he went on a visit to Jodhpur AB, one su-30mki was flown over to that AB at his request.
he was seen lecturing the NDTV dorkette about the capabilities of the Su-30mki.
he would love BR I think.