My column in today’s DNA

26/11. A day three years ago, when the average Mumbaikar’s sense of relative security was ripped out.

It isn’t that Mumbai was a haven of security and peace. Quite the contrary. The last two decades had been quite traumatic for the city of dreams. First came the gang wars, followed by the riots and then by bomb blasts s in the first few years of the 1990s. This had an impact on  the fabric of the city, and its psyche went through trauma that was best associated with other places Then came the sporadic bomb blasts – targeting trains, buses, inflicting death, damage and fear  on a population that was on the move, trying to create a better life for itself and its families. Yet the city plodded on. Then came the floods – a random cloudburst that shook the city up. You still see the aftermath of that incident. A heavy downpour and half of Mumbai seems to be indoors. And, then came 26/11. Possibly, the most traumatic of the lot. Not because it happened in the elite areas of Mumbai. Not even because of the toll, but because the enemy – and let’s not mince words about who they were – were able to sneak into our city with the utmost ease, and unleash carnage, while all that we could do was wait and watch. That they were able to do this in multiple locations including trains stations, hospitals and hotels with ease makes one feel even less secure. The kind of impotence and paralysis associated with the four days of bloodbath was without parallel. An elite, highly indoctrinated, professionally trained, well-armed killer squad landed in your city, your country, and killed, and killed and killed – and there was no way to stop them.

Three years down the line, what is 26/11 signify. Like much else in this country – a ritual. A ritual where we take out old candles and light them, a ritual in which we send a file to Pakistan to ask for justice, a ritual in which television anchors, newspaper editors and intelligentsia pontificate on what was, what should be and what isn’t. 26/11 has become a ritual. A ritual like all others. Garlands, flowers, candles, meaningless words – but have we really learnt ?

The primary goal of the state is to keep its citizens secure. And, to ensure this security forces have to be well staffed, well trained, well armed, well coordinated.  Mumbai, three years after 26/11, faces a 40 per cent shortage of police personnel. There simply aren’t enough police to take care of  law and order, let alone a terror attack. The remaining anti-terror infrastructure promised in the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks is still in the distant horizon. There is no political party asking why jobs are not being filled – by locals or otherwise. There is no rath yatra highlighting the miserable state of security across the nation, and there is no activism on keeping citizens secure. While it may be impossible to prevent terror attacks 100% of the time, it shouldn’t be this easy for the enemy to get through the gates.

The response of the Americans and the Europeans to terror attacks on their territory was all party consensus on  the way forward. Can you see our politicians, our civil society, our citizens coming together on anything? If the Congress proposes something, the BJP has to oppose and vice versa. Everything is a party political issue. Everything is geared towards capturing the headlines. And, political capital is sought to be built on every little aspect of Governance – be it FDI or security. National Interest takes a back seat in this political edition of Tom and Jerry. What politicians seem to forget is that while Tom and Jerry is fun to watch, does one  really want them in charge of the Nation?

And Finally, Everyone knows where the terrorists came from. Everyone knows who funded them, trained them and deployed them. They also know that these weren’t non-state actors but a State itself. So why does India persist in this delusion of ‘we need to be friends’ with Pakistan. They aren’t our friends. They never have been. There doesn’t have to be a logical, understandable reason for their visceral hatred towards India. What there has to be is an appreciation on the Indian side, that some people just want to see your country burn. And those people are not hidden away in caves in the Hindukush mountains, but are within the Government of Pakistan.

 

This from last year’s blog post , and they say that change is the only constant !

November has been an eventful month in terms of remembrances. So much so that i have forgotten half the things that we are supposed to remember. The most noise however, was for Nehru’s & then Indra Gandhi’s birth anniversary, the Babri Masjid Demolition – thanks to the tabling of the Liberhan committee report and now 26/11.

Like practically everything else that we do — we have lost the essence and the learnings of these people and events — and have reduced all the incidents to rituals – flowers, words, tributes …. but, not much else .

The old afflictions remain :

• Our leadership is still dis united on core issues- everything is a party political issue . Political Capital is to be gained on every little event. National interest be damned.
• Corruption is still rampant – and National Security will be damned unless that is checked.
• We Still want to wail from rooftops on being the victim – it is time that we stopped being victimised and started fighting back.
• Our Media is still sensational – polarising opinion deliberately for ratings. Divide & Rule still rules
• We still don’t care about people who are not like us. Which is why 26/11 is important and other dates when people died due to terror are not. Which is why the Taj and the Trident are important, but VT is not.
• Life is cheap. the poorer the life, the cheaper it is
• We don’t believe in responsibility and accountability. It is always someone else’s fault. Always.
• Rules are for others – not for us
• And finally, the most dangerous of them all – for us talk is action. We are so happy with bluster that we forget that action is needed so that what ever we say is taken seriously.

If other 26/11?s are to be prevented – maybe introspection will help . maybe things  need to be fixed   within. None of us can prevent a madman with a death wish from blowing himself up and us with him — what we can prevent is responses that make us like him.

Maybe the greatest tribute that we can give those who have died is to ensure that we don’t make cosmetic changes or have knee jerk responses — but ensure that in the long term we are a safe and secure country that doesn’t allow the murder of citizens to go unpunished

November has been an eventful month in terms of remembrances. So much so that i have forgotten half the things that we are supposed to remember.  The most noise however, was for Nehru’s & then Indra Gandhi’s  birth anniversary, the Babri Masjid Demolition – thanks to the tabling of the Liberhan committee report and now 26/11.

Like practically everything else that we do — we have lost the essence and the learnings of these people and events — and have reduced all the incidents to rituals – flowers, words, tributes …. but, not much else .

The old afflictions remain :

• Our leadership is  still dis united on core issues- everything is a party political issue . Political Capital is to be gained on every little event. National interest be damned.

• Corruption is still rampant – and National Security will be damned unless that is checked.

• We Still want to wail from rooftops on being the victim – it is time that we stopped being victimised and started fighting back.

• Our Media is still sensational – polarising opinion deliberately for ratings. Divide & Rule still rules

• We still don’t care about people who are not like us. Which is why 26/11 is important and other dates when people died due to terror are not. Which is why the Taj and the Trident are important, but VT is not.

• Life is cheap. the poorer the life, the cheaper it is

• We don’t believe in responsibility and accountability. It is always someone else’s fault. Always.

• Rules are for others – not for us

• And finally, the most dangerous of them all – for us talk is action. We are so happy with bluster that we forget that action is needed so that what ever we say is taken seriously.

If we want to prevent other such 26/11′s – maybe we need to introspect . maybe we need to fix things within.  None of us can prevent a madman with a death wish from blowing himself up and us with him — what we can prevent is responses that make us like him.

Maybe the greatest tribute that we can give those who have died is to ensure that we don’t make cosmetic changes or have knee jerk responses — but ensure that in the long term we are a safe and secure country that doesn’t allow the murder of citizens to go unpunished

This announced today

Under the six-point guidelines framed by the umbrella body NBA (News Broadcasters Association), the channels shouldn’t be telecasting details of identity, number and status of hostages. Nor should they provide information of pending rescue operations or details on the number of security personnel involved or the methods employed by them.

The News Broadcasting Standards Disputes Redressal Authority, constituted by the NBA, today said television TV channels should avoid any “live contact with the victims or security personnel or other technical personnel involved or the perpetrators during the course of any incident.”

Addressing a press meet, Authority Chairman Justice JS Verma also said media should avoid “unnecessary repeated or continuous broadcast of archival footage that may tend to re-agitate the mind of the viewers. Archival footage, if shown, should clearly indicate ‘file’ and the date and time should be given where feasible.”

The Authority said “no live reporting should be made that facilitates publicity of any terrorist or militant outfit or its ideology or tends to evoke sympathy for the perpetrators or glamourises them or their cause or advances the illegal agenda or objectives of the perpetrators.”

The dead should also be treated with dignity and their visuals should not be shown. Special care should be taken in the broadcast of any distressing visuals and graphics showing grief and emotional scenes of victims and relatives which could cause distress to children and families.

At the outset, the Authority said all telecast of news relating to armed conflict, internal disturbance, communal violence, public disorder, crime and other similar situations should be tested on the touchstone of ‘public interest’.

Furthermore, the media had the responsibility to disseminate information which was factually accurate and objective.

more on indiantelevision.com

sometimes i wonder, whether time makes us heal or does it make us forget. Three weeks are over, and the fourth begins

For Those Who Died

The road to justice has yet to be sighted