MUMBAI TERROR ATTACKS-The word is "terrorism"

 At the wake of Mumbai terrorist attacks which defined the extent of jeopardy,I would like to submit this small report.I have changed my pattern of posting and have given it in the form of hints.

What is that which hinders social peace? this is a perfect example!

 PRE-ATTACK PERIOD

-Indian Navy in Deep slumber.
-Local police on their normal duty.

-A silent motor boat enters the mumbai waters.

-Young boys enter the city through the "Gateway of India"

- Mumbai city-busy as usual.

-Indian media- focusing on movie previews,parties,advertisements and cricket

 

DURING THE ATTACK

-Gun fires,grenade explosion and blood bath everywhere.

-The city's top star hotels Taj,Oberoi,Trident were captured by the terrorists.

-Mayhem in CT terminus,railway station, a famous cafe among the 10 other sites.

-Only the local police to the rescue.

-NSG arrived 5-6 hours later-"by bus".

-Navy was shocked
-People fleeing from the places of terror.

-Gunmen causing rampage,shooting everybody in their vicinity without a pinch of mercy.

-Many senior cops shed their lives and one of them was an Encounter specialist.

-Indian Media- Live telecasts of the happenings in and around the attacked places.

- Many foreigners and toursists held as hostages by the terrorists.

-The hostages were held for three days when finally the cops outwitted the terrorists and the operation was called "Operation Cyclone" 

  

   POST ATTACK PERIOD

-143 people were feared dead and 288 have been injured.

-Tears and blood flood the financial capital of India.

-Police caught one terrorist alive and took him for interrogation.

-The people started cursing the terrorists and the politicians mainly.

-Sounds of siren and ambulance taunted the place.

-The government announced ex-gratia for the victims and for the demised police officers.

- Politicians pass the buck.

-Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and the Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh resigns.

-Citizens angry at the politicians.

-Indian Media started to debate over this topic and raised polls for related issues.

-The Indian government started investigations.

-All fingers pointed Pakistan.

-Every hint told India that the terrorists were Pakistan-based.

-Pakistan denied the Indian accusations.

-The Indian people and the government paid homage for the deceased.

-People started indulging in protests and rallies under the title "War on Terrorism"

 

THE HEATED TENSION BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

-India demanded Pakistan to hand over a list of top 20 wanted terrorists in which the Underworld don,Dawood Ibrahim's name was also highlighted.

-The Pakistani Prime Minister,Asif Ali Zardari backed the Pakistani militants and said a blunt "no" to the Indian Embassy.

-Pakistan moved some of its afghan border forces to the Indian frontier.

 THE US INTERVENTION

-Obama conveyed his regret towards the attack

-The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an emergency visit to India and then to Pakistan

-The objective was to clear the tensions between the two countries and to resolve this issue by taking necessary action.

-Pakistan Prime Minister Zardari pledged that he would co-operate with the investigations

-Rice requested transparency in the investigations from Pakistan 

-Zardari confirmed that strong actions would be taken on those who are involved in this terror attack.

-Anti-Rice and Anti-Indian slogans were raised by the public and the political parties of Pakistan

THE INDO-PAK RELATION

-Pakistan never turned up for a co-operation until the US intervention

-So,Pakistan was not at all pressurized by the Bilateral force between the two countries

-But was put into pressure only when there was an external International Influence(US)

-Asif Ali Zardari who had come to power under the shadow of his deceased wife Benazir Bhuto,now backs the ISI which was one of the agents of the Bhuto's assasination.

-India has warned pakistan and tension has erupted  in the borders
-The Pakistani Media is creating an image that Pakistan is no where near the cause of the attack and it has been fabricated by the Indian Internal Agencies

THE INDIAN VIEW:

"If India still tries to have Pakistan in a peace grip knowing that Pakistan will never change,then the losers are the Indians.It is time to retaliate"

THE PAKISTANI VIEW:

"We Pakistanis are innocents.We are crudely put into this issue.It is not needed to absolve the blame when the accusations are not true."

 

....................... and the conflict continues costing the precious lives of innocent people and the word is "TERRORISM".

YET ANOTHER RIOT!!!

Orissa: Hindu extremists burn one nun alive, rape another (India)
Bubaneshwar (AsiaNews) – A Catholic nun was burnt alive by a group of Hindu fundamentalists who stormed the orphanage she ran in the district of Bargarh (Orissa), this according to Police Superintendent Ashok Biswall. A priest who was at the orphanage was also badly hurt and is now being treated in hospital for multiple burns. Another nun from Bubaneshwar’s Social Centre was gang raped by groups of Hindu extremists before the building housing the facility was set on fire. Sources also told AsiaNews that elsewhere one priest was wounded and two other were abducted. The list of violent anti-Christian acts is thus getting longer.
For the past two days the state of Orissa (north-east India) has been racked by violence following the assassination of radical Hindu leader Swami Laxanananda Saraswati.
Churches, community and pastoral centres, convents and orphanages have been attacked yesterday and today by mobs shouting “Kill the Christians; destroy their institutions.”
Tensions in the state are in fact still running high. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has planned demonstrations for today and tomorrow. Gangs of Hindu fanatics from the VHP as well as Sangh Parivar are roaming roads and villages, setting up road blocks, sending their own members on raids of plunder and violence.
According to firsthand accounts the archdiocese’s social centre was attacked and torched. Before that the attackers raped Sister Meena, a nun working at the centre.
The local pastoral centre, which has escaped destruction in last December’s violence, is now a total wreck. Father Thomas, who ran the facility, is in hospital with serious head injuries.
Speaking to AsiaNews Fr Ajay Singh also said that a nun was burnt alive in an orphanage she ran in the district of Bargarh.
Elsewhere Sisters of Mother Teresa have been attacked by stone-throwing Hindu militants with one seriously injured.
All Christian institutions are now in danger because mobs of Hindu radicals are roaming the streets, breaking down doors and smashing windows, including in some cases Christian homes. Many priests and nuns have had to escape.
In Bubaneshwar Hindu militants stoned the Archbishop’s residence, but did not dare invade the place because of police presence.
In Phulbani the parish church and the home of local clergy were attacked and set on fire. All local priests fled and found refuge in the homes of some of members of the local congregation.
The youth hostel that houses students who study in Phulbani has also been torched.
Some missionaries of Charity who were attending a health course in Brahamanigoan were blocked for hours in the village.
Elsewhere nuns left their convent finding shelter in some school buildings.

THE ACTS OF COWARDICE IN RECENT TIMES!!!

Following is a chronology of major bomb attacks across the country in recent times.March 7, 2006 - Three bombs ripped through the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, killing at least 28 people and injuring 62 others in a crowded temple and a railway station.The first blast occurred inside Sankat Mochan temple adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. Minutes later, another bomb went off in the Cantonment railway station. The third blast occurred in a crowded coach  of the Shiv Ganga Express train.
April 14, 2006 - Fourteen people, including a woman and a girl, were injured in two explosions inside the Jama Masjid in the old quarters of Delhi after evening prayers on a Friday. Low-intensity crude bombs were used.
July 11, 2006 - Seven bomb blasts occurred in a period of 11 minutes on Mumbai's Suburban Railway. A total of 209 people lost their lives and over 700 were injured in the attacks.
September 8, 2006 - Thirty-eight people were killed and over 100 injured in three nearly simultaneous blasts, including one in a mosque, in communally sensitive Malegaon town of Maharashtra.
February 19, 2007 - Sixty-eight people were killed and dozens more were injured after explosions triggered a major fire on the Samjhauta Express, the train connecting Delhi and Lahore.

THE MOST BUSIEST PEOPLE IN THE INDIAN COMMUNITY!!

WHEN THE RED SIGNAL GLOWS......
You can run but you cannot hide! They are everywhere. On the streets, at every traffic signal, at every temple or tourist site, in small villages, towns to big metropolises - India's beggars are omnipotent.In the course of ones life in India, it’s often easy to remember some beggars. After all you have to see some of them daily and often for years altogether. It’s easy to believe that most of us develop some kind of relationship with the beggars we know. Some we develop sympathy towards, towards others we develop disgust, for some we reserve our animus - but in the end, almost all of us develop a sense of guilt. Guilt that makes us think- do I owe this person something which I have taken from him ?- not directly perhaps, but something which we owe to society and hence to that person? Guilt of us living in comfort, while they have to stand begging, braving the elements, come rain or shine.

Just yesterday, we watched an extremely old woman begging at a traffic signal in pouring rain, with a sheet of plastic barely covering her. Many must have taken a rupee out for her by rolling their windows that morning- we did. I have often observed that it is the relatively less well to do that often end up giving alms, more than the ones traveling in their cars with windows rolled up. It’s easier to lock your guilt and force oneself not to look at the beggar to avoid giving alms and looking at reality. The commuter on the bike has no such luxury. If he does not look, the beggar will tug at him and by extension tug at his guilt.

Yet, the bigger problem is that the guilt doesn't go away once you are done with giving your daily quota of alms. You cannot wash it, little by little with the rupees you throw away. In fact, after you have given that rupee you often end up feeling guiltier- for giving too less. Those traffic signals which turn green abruptly, forcing you to step on the gas and move away while you were fishing for that rupee, are the worst.

The city where I live is well known for its prowess in Information technology. The growth rate of the economy has been scorching for the past few years and the money just keeps rolling, for the privileged few. But perversely, this has also led to an unprecedented rise in the number of beggars. What was a trickle has led to a flood. There have been cries that the "Government needs to do something”. Yet I think the beggars perform an important function in our city. They keep our conscience alive and that’s hardly a contribution that can go a begging!

The latest controversy in India, where Doctors were caught amputating healthy limbs to aid begging has, not surprisingly, created a furore. More than anything else people feel cheated. Cheated by the beggars for one and cheated by one of 'our own' who fell low enough to take money from the beggars and their ringmasters. Somewhere these is a hope. Our minds are whirring furiously - "these beggars are the work of a mafia, the mafia is in cahoots with the Doctors who manufacture pity using the surgeons knife. If the mafia and the Doctors are arrested, the beggars will go away to wherever they came from".

Can this really happen? Hope springs eternal, until tomorrows traffic signal at the commute...