Kunal Kohli’s Say's Mumbai - The War Within The City

Whats sad is that we can’t put one date for the attack on our beloved Mumbai as the attack has gone on for over 3 dates. After the dust settles and our brave security forces have overcome the terrorists the question that really needs to be asked is that ‘is this the new face of terrorism ?’

Is this going to be the way the terrorists attack our cities, our country our world? It somehow seems, very sadly and shockingly, that the terrorists have figured out that it takes the same number of terrorists to wage a war on a city rather than have bomb blasts. The war that have they raged in Mumbai has not only got the attention of the entire world, but its got one of the major financial capitals to a halt for about 36 hours.

While giving some interviews to the BBC world service radio stations I realized that a lot of people all over the world were critical of our security vis a vis the attacks, to theses people I argued about the security of the U.S when their pentagon was attacked during the 9/11 attacks or the London or Madrid bombings. Its very easy for the western world to point fingers at our forces easily forgetting their own failures of intelligence.

Our security forces are amongst the best in the world or possibly the best in the world, in hopeless or really tough situations like Kargil our forces have proved victorious time and again. The operation at the Taj, Oberoi Trident and Nariman Bhavan were certainly not easy when you keep in mind the scores of guests, the multiple places for the terrorists to hide, the size of the hotels, the various rooms, back offices, its like a maze, through which the forces have to go through every corner and not just flush out every terrorist, but protect the lives of innocent people and try and cause as less damage to the heritage property. Our armed forces truly need to be saluted.

How can we ever repay the sacrifice of Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskar and so many other jawans.

We also need to take out time to salute the journalists who braved their lives and brought us the live images. Did you notice one thing that apart from Srinivasan Jain and a handful of others, most of the journalists were women ? Across all channels there were women journalists covering the most dangerous terror attack the city has seen. Barkha Dutt, Mahroof and so many other women were covering the attacks, were in the line of fire, were at every dangerous spot and were there more than the men, theres something to be said about that too.

Pranoy Roys interview of the pakistan Foreign Minister was strong and direct as were his answers.

A harrowing point we all haven't come across yet was mentioned in passing by an American woman who was rescued, she said "they made us wait in our rooms till they cleared the staircase of bodies". How many bodies are finally going to come out of the Taj and Oberoi Trident are truly going to shake us all.

This attack however was an attack on the entire world on Indian soil. The terrorists clearly asking for British and American nationals, the attack on a Jewish centre at Nariman Bhavan, all this points to the fact that the terrorists wanted the impact of this attack felt all over the world. This new kind of terror attack of waging a war on the streets of a major city is something the world needs to take note of and try and fight together.

This is not the time for the world to look down on third world or developing countries and pull out investments. This is not a time for clichés of the spirit of the people or the resilience. We have no choice, we have to get back to work and we will. This is the time for every one to take note of and to study together the root of these attacks. The world needs to pool resources and get to the root of these attacks. Who funded the attacks ? where did these young boys get their military training to carry out such a well planned attack ? Who planned the attacks ? The attacks have been planned with such military precision and intelligence, so as to cause maximum impact with least resources, and also to prolong the attack.

The answers to these questions and the relevant and appropriate actions thereof will help curtail such attacks in the future on future cities. Otherwise what happened in Mumbai in November 2008 can happen again in another city in another part of the world, because suddenly terror has found a new war to wage on us. What are we going to do about it ? How we act in times of adversary is what defines us and our future, how are we going to act ?.