Terrorist attacks in Mumbai

Have been following the news about the attacks all week. Its very grave. The attacks over the last few months have become much more bold, well planned and more destructive. Its as if they suddently realized its too easy. Thats what makes this so bad. We need a strong intelligence wing to counter it and also step up the security initiatives. This is the time for the country and poiticians to come together.

The problem is in itself a very tough one to solve. Terrorists in India do not stand out as they do in the US (am talking about Islamic terrorists obviously, though its sad that I use terrorists and Islamic terrorists interchangeably. More on that later). Coming back to my original point, terrorists in India do not stand out like in the US. So they are able to blend in and do their job. On top of that we don't have a system in place to track bank transactions, trap or listen in on internet activity or at least an unique identifier for every person. I am not saying an SSN will help track terrorists but it will at least help identify ordinary citizens who go the other route.
A population of 1.2 billion will pose a lot of problems and also a present a lot of easy targets. It cannot get any more real and serious than this for us as a country.

Either way India now has to implement a series of steps to put a system in place to help their intelligence wing. This is the time the politicians should come together and work towards the good of the country rather than their own agendas. At least some of the politicians still do not seem to understand the seriousness of the issue as evidenced here http://sify.com/movies/fullstory.php?id=14808897

The next elections are in 6 months and I might be correct in guessing that BJP will come to power. Manmohan Singh though a very credible guy and a financial genius is viewed a softy and BJP is known for its hardline stand too. Judging by the frequency of the attacks in the last few months, I fear if there could be more attacks of these before that time. Lets hope not.