A very old post of mine on Mumbai Attacks

On 26th November 2008, terrorists attacked several sites across Bombay oops Mumbai(I am sorry Mr Raj. Didn't mean to hurt the sentiments of the Maximum City), killing many people and taking numerous hostages.


Lashkar-e-Toiba emerged as the source of these attacks, although this is yet a little unclear(you can't blame an INNOCENT MILITARY ORGANISATION unless proven guilty, right?). Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi returned unexpectedly from his visit to India and returned to Islamabad.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil has taken the blame and fallen on the sword, to be repaced by Chidambaram, while Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh (and later Mr. Pranab Mukherjee)has taken over the Finance Ministry. CM Deshmukh was replaced by Mr. Chavan. An All-Party Meet has concluded, as expected, with the different sides trading insults. The BJP said it was too little, too late. Questions are also being asked to as to why the NSG took 9 hours to arrive on the scene. It showed the amount of red tape we have to curb the bright sparks of nationalism and action.

On the plus side, India's security is being beefed up all along the coastline - it is very possible that future terrorists would not sail to Bombay but to the other side(Bay of Bengal), and so coastal security all across the line needs to be addressed.

According to a captured 'fidayeen' aka Ajmal Kasab, the terrorists originated from Pakistan, and were trained by L-e-T. At the same time, they were helped by locals who showed them around.

The Mumbai Police claimed that there was no local help - "There were 10 terrorists in five groups of two members each, who had come from Karachi in boats. They later hired five taxis to get to their destination."

Meanwhile, Pakistan made about withdrawing 100,000 troops from the Afghan border and bringing them to India - this has been construed as a veiled threat to the US in its support for India.

The US pledged total co-operation with India, while Pakistan proposed the formation of a joint investigating mechanism with India. Well we didn't accept that but sent numerous dossiers and evidence so that Pakistan can start a Trial. Controversially, the US says it warned India of its coastal weaknesses and probability of attack.



Options??????
Broadly speaking, I see 3 main options-

1. Direct war
2. Rogue Operations
3. Diplomatic Negotiations

WAR will result in international repercussions especially when Pakistani officials say that we aready have started to move in our forces on LOC

Rogue Operations will lead to hostage situations on both sides

AND

Diplomatic Negotiations by building international pressure will take a lot of time.
But, I guess that's the Indian way.
SO BE IT!


P.S. Pakistan has freed Mr Hafiz(the alleged mastermind of the attacks and in top 20 of the internationally most wanted terrorist) of all charges.