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Mumbai Attack –A New Dimension in Urban Terrorism |
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-By Major(Retd) Mahmudur Rahman, an International Relation and Security Analyst of ISSIT Ltd.
While it is early to know exactly what happened in Mumbai as the fog of war still blankets the city, multiple press reports from India allowing for a general picture to be painted. An estimated 12 to 25 terrorists are believed to have entered Mumbai City by sea on the 26th November at around 9: 30 p.m (local time). After landing, the Terrorists initiated discriminated attacks at a police station, then fanned across the city to attack the soft underbelly of hotels, cafes, cinemas, and hospitals. Civilians were gunned down and taken as hostage, while terrorists shorted out for people carrying US and British passports.
India's cities are no strangers to indiscriminate terror attacks. Such attacks have occurred at regular interval with steadily increasing frequency in the recent years.
The Mumbai city alone witnessed numbers of terrorist’s activities in recent past. It started with the series of thirteen explosions resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries on the March 12, 1993. Then on March 13, 2003, a bomb attack on a commuter train killed 11 persons. In another incident, twin car bombings killed at least 52 people and injured 150 persons. Again, seven bomb blasts occurred at various places on the Mumbai Suburban Railway, killing 200 on July 11, 2006.
In the current year alone, India embraced the highest number of terrorists bomb attacks including in New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Hyderabad , Guwati, Manipur etc in 2008.
Now the burning question, what is new about Mumbai, Attack in November 2008 ? This is the first time in Indian soil that the Westerners in particular the Americans, the British and the Jewish were targeted. So this attack got the highest global media coverage after the 9/11 incident.
The obvious novelty and uniqueness of the attack is the use of ‘frontal built up area assault’ tactics blending apparently the ‘Amphibious operation’ instead of timed explosive devices , one or more bombings at distinct sites is going to be a new chapter in the history of Terrorism. But it is not fully new symptom in India.
This is may be new in the urban Indian context. There was one similar incident - an attack by a five-man squad armed with rifles and grenades on India's Parliament in New Delhi in December 2001. The attackers were narrowly prevented by alert staff from gaining access to the building, where hundreds of parliamentarians and ministers were attending a session. This Delhi Attack led on almost to a war between India and Pakistan.
This ‘frontal built up area assault’ took place in Mumbai is known also as ‘Fidayeen technique’ in the terrorism history of Indian Subcontinent. The Fidayeen technique - a rudimentary form of "shock and awe" warfare - was introduced into Kashmir by Pakistani radical organizations that entered the Kashmir insurgency from the mid-1990s onwards. The large majority of Fidayeen attacks in Kashmir were perpetrated by one such organization, the Lashkar-e-Toiba, headquartered in Pakistan and founded and led by Pakistani religious radicals.
But the deployment of exactly the same tactic in central Mumbai shows that this technique has now found a new and even more dangerous theatre in which to operate.
The tactic is thus not without precedent, but the havoc in Mumbai may nonetheless mark a new chapter in the evolution of urban terrorism in India. The gunmen who attacked two luxury hotels, and a fashionable cafe frequently visited by the Westerners, have brought the "war" - as they see it - to India's elite class, and to affluent Westerners living in or visiting India's most cosmopolitan city.
An attack of this nature cannot be launched together overnight. It requires planning scouting, financing, training and a supporting network to aid the terrors. It is more than likely that the masterminds are seasoned operatives and that the foot-soldiers, young as they may have been, had undergone rigorous training for months and perhaps years. It is reported that the terrorists were so prepared and organized that they established an operational control room in Hotel Taj Mahal.
The attacks also show every sign of having been designed to maximize the media attention on a global scale. In other words, that was a method of the wilds’ bargaining with the humanity on earth .
Nevertheless, the Mumbai incident clearly brought India to a massive Intelligence and Security failure. In the first several hours after the incidents began, the response of the Indian authorities was very inefficient, slow and confused .The first forces sent to the scene were inexperienced local police officers equipped with poor arms and ammunition, who sustained heavy casualties as a result. Whereas the terrorists were well equipped with modern latest AK-47 Rifles, Grenades and other modern explosives.
It took long time before Indian military and police authorities realized the magnitude of the attack and deployed skilled forces including Army and Navy commando units, to the 10 affected sites . These units and in particular the National Security Guard’s,’Black Cats commando force, have an impressive operational record, especially in Kashmir and against the Pakistani army. It is hard to believe even these the commandoes also faced problems for being not having the knowledge of the layouts of such key installations.
The global intelligence and spy agencies had been reporting that this attack on India's financial capital Mumbai, bears all the trademarks of al-Qaida — simultaneous assaults meant to kill scores of Westerners in iconic buildings — but clues so far point to homegrown Indian terrorists supported by external forces like ‘Lashkar-e-Toiba and Joshe-e- Mohammad based in neighboring countries.
In some ways, the attack illustrated just how fluid the terror tactics have become since Sept. 11 — and how the threat has become more global in character. Al-Qaida's leaders on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border still provide inspiration but groups are becoming increasingly local. And one thing is clear they all work under the same umbrella of ideology that Al-Qaida had been trying to spread all over the world.
The group that claimed responsibility, Deccan Mujahideen, was unknown to global security officials. The name suggested the group was from the Indian state of Hyderabad.
One of the suspects reportedly called an Indian television station, speaking the main Pakistani language of Urdu, to demand the return of Muslim lands. That was a reference to Kashmir, territory claimed by both India and Pakistan.
Now the time has come to evaluate that India and Pakistan government should realize and cooperate with each other for facing the same enemy of global terrorism. If they continue the old political tactics with the blaming game, the umbrella of Al-Qaida will be strengthened and the pressure on them in Afghan border will be reduced .It is well to remember that the Al-Qaida desires to divert the global attention for increasing tension between Pakistan and India .
India itself should look into its own short coming in security apparatus to modernize the policing system and organize a national level intelligence to deal with the Terrorism effectively.
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India promises to open nuclear sector to private players |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 6 (AFP): India's government has pledged to open up its nuclear sector to private players -- once it completes bilateral civil nuclear cooperation pacts.
The statement late Friday came after Indian Premier Manmohan Singh signed a landmark nuclear deal with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the day covering the building of four new nuclear energy reactors in India.
"Once negotiations with Russia and possibly Canada in nuclear commerce talks are done with, the government will soon open up the sector for private players to participate," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said.
The four new nuclear energy reactors will be built in Kudankulam in southern Tamil Nadu state, where Moscow is already building two 1,000-megawatt light water reactors.
The nuclear deal with Russia was the third such agreement India has signed after a decision in September by the Nuclear Suppliers Group to waive its ban on the trading of atomic technology with New Delhi.
The United States and France are the other powers to have signed agreements with New Delhi but former Cold War ally Russia remains so far the only state actively involved in building reactors in the energy-hungry country.
A host of private companies such as Westinghouse Electric Co and General Electric of the United States have been jockeying for a slice of India's lucrative civilian nuclear technology market.
The end to India's nuclear pariah status has paved the way for atomic fuel and technology sales worth tens of billions of dollars and companies are racing to exploit the market, industry officials say.
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Nepal Maoists agree to discharge child soldiers: UN |
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KATHMANDU, Dec 6: Nepal''s Maoist prime minister has agreed to discharge around 3,000 child soldiers from the ranks of his party''s former guerrilla army as quickly as possible, the United Nations said, reports AFP.
As part of a 2006 peace deal, the Maoists registered 30,000 people as fighters, but UN verification found that just 19,000 were genuine combatants, while 2,975 were under 18 by a May 2006 deadline.
"Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has expressed his commitment to release all the child soldiers from the UN-monitored camps as soon as possible," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN special representative for Children and Armed Conflict, on Friday.
Despite being found to be minors, the youngsters have remained in the camps since the peace deal that ended the bloody civil war in which 13,000 people were killed.
"We''re hoping all the children will leave the camps by the end of February," Coomaraswamy told reporters in Kathmandu at the end of a six-day visit.
The Maoists now run Nepal after winning landmark elections in April, but little progress has been made for the rehabilitation of those who remain in 28 UN-monitored camps.
The Maoists insist their former fighters be allowed to join the Nepalese army, but their political opponents and the previously royalist military have said the national army cannot accept indoctrinated ex-guerrillas.
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World is frustrated with Myanmar: UN Chief AP/UNB, United Nations |
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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday there is "growing frustration" around the world with Myanmar's ruling generals.
He spoke to reporters after emerging from a closed-door meeting during which he spent more than an hour trying to get 14 nations to exert more influence on Myanmar, formerly called Burma. The so-called "Group of Friends on Myanmar," which Ban created a year ago, includes both Western nations pushing for human rights reforms and Southeast Asian trading partners, chiefly China, with different priorities. All share "not only a higher expectation but also a growing frustration that our efforts have yet to yield the results we all hope for. I share this sense of expectation and frustration," Ban said.
Ban also received a letter Wednesday signed by 112 former presidents and prime ministers urging him to return to Myanmar and to press its military junta to free all political prisoners. Myanmar's military, which has ruled since 1962, tolerates no dissent and crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September 2007. It holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, up sharply from nearly 1,200 before the demonstrations, human rights groups say.
Ban traveled to Myanmar last May after Cyclone Nargis devastated coastal areas. He was able to meet with the junta's top leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, and persuade him to ease access for foreign aid workers and relief supplies.
Although Myanmar's military junta has pledged cooperation with the U.N. as a "cornerstone" of its foreign policy, Ban said that the nation's refusal to budge in any meaningful way risks undermining the nation's prospects for democratization, reconciliation and respect for human rights. "My good offices should not be seen as an end in itself, or as a justification for inaction," he said. "At this time I do not think that the atmosphere is ripe for me to undertake my own visit there."
But, he quickly added: "I am ready to visit any time, whenever I can have reasonable expectations of my visit to be productive and meaningful."
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Pakistan awaits ''proof'' on Mumbai terror links |
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MUMBAI, Dec 6: Pakistan was still awaiting "concrete proof" on Saturday that a group based there carried out the devastating Mumbai attacks, as India said evidence was mounting and warned its anger had not cooled, reports AFP.
As twin bomb blasts killed 27 people in Pakistan''s northwest, President Asif Ali Zardari stressed the country was also a victim of terror and was carrying out its own investigation into the assault on India''s financial centre.
"Pakistan is currently doing its own internal investigation and is waiting for concrete proof to be handed over to us," Zardari told reporters in Istanbul, where he discussed ways to combat extremism with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
"Our position is that we have always been and still are the victims of terrorism," he said.
Last week''s 60-hour Mumbai siege by 10 Islamic militants has badly hit relations between India and Pakistan, the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours who have fought three wars since independence from Britain.
The attack by gunmen against multiple targets in Mumbai, including the landmark Taj Mahal hotel, killed 163 people including 26 foreigners. Nine militants were killed, while one was captured alive.
New Delhi has increasingly pointed the finger at Islamabad over the violence, sometimes referred to as ''India''s 9/11,'' which has enraged public opinion and threatened a slow-moving peace process.
On Friday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India has been angered "as never before" by the attacks as his new home minister hinted at growing evidence of Pakistani involvement.
"We have told the world that the people of India have felt a sense of hurt and anger as never before due to the Mumbai terror strikes," Singh said.
"It is the obligation of all concerned that perpetrators of this horrible crime are brought to book," Singh added.
India says all 10 gunmen involved in the assault came from Pakistan, and has handed Islamabad a list of 20 terror suspects, with demands for their arrest and extradition.
Suspicion has focused on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group, which has fought Indian control of divided Kashmir. Lashkar was blamed for an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001, which pushed the two nations to the brink of war.
Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram clearly had Pakistani groups in mind when he spoke of proof that elements outside the country were responsible.
"There is ample evidence to show that the source of the terrorist attack was clearly linked to organisations which have in the past been identified as being behind terrorist attacks in India," Chidambaram said.
"There are one or two countries which have broadly confirmed our preliminary conclusions," he added.
However, Chidambaram also acknowledged there had been some security and intelligence "lapses" prior to the attacks.
Several Indian newspapers on Friday cited unidentified intelligence sources as saying that Pakistan''s powerful spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), was involved in training the gunmen.
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