Mumbai: Global terror calling

When we talk of globalisation and the world shrinking to a global village no one talks about the ill effects of global terrorism following this paradigm as well.

I have grown up amidst the horrors of the terror during the height of the Khalistan movement. We were constantly advised and warned against venturing out at night. Winters in New Delhi used to scary with the constant threat of being involved in an incident.

What happened in Mumbai tonight is something that we have been dealing for a while, but the complexity of the situation is something that globalisation alone can explain. While the earlier attacks on most of the metros have been in peak hours, targeting the local population, this one was targeting at Americans while using the blasts on the streets as a diversion.

The targets were posh five star hotels in Mumbai, the Taj Mahal Hotel, Oberoi and now the Ramada not unlike the attacks in the neighboring countries. These attacks are targeted against foreigners specially visitors from the United States. As reports come in some of these terrorists have held some of the tourists hostage in the some of the above locations. This kind of incident has till now been unprecedented in the history of modern India. Now that the global fight against terror visits India on this day, In my opinion its time we take a strong stand against them. We have lots to learn from countries like United States, Russia and Israel who would not tolerate such attacks against civilians. We were not prepared as we integrated with the global economy, and there is increasing concern about the position India is going to take as it collaborates with countries like the United States. Any act against civilians Indian or Foreign on Indian soil will not be tolerated and we should give a fitting reply.

Mumbai Police is very experienced in dealing with such incidents but I am not sure they would be able to handle this complex scenario. They would need help. The famed Delhi police which has much more experience in dealing with terrorist activities should be in position to advice on such matters. And we can always rely on the Indian Army to train the state police on providing adequate response.

And lastly we would need a process document to deal with such situations. The sad truth about India is that we are surrounded by countries that are tottering on the brink of disaster. All the more reason we have to be careful.