Random Thoughts

Mumbai blasts : version 7/11

Tuesday, the 11th July 2006 began as any other day for a Mumbaikar. It
remained so until the early hours in the evening when the city's one of
the train spines -- the western suburban line -- (and perhaps the most
crowded among the three such rail routes) was rocked by a series of bomb
blasts leaving hundreds of citizens dead and many more wounded.

The aftermath of the entire episode hints at a well planned and well
executed flanking attack. Consider this: The blasts were executed in the
evening, when all the modes of transportation are flooded with people
who leave for the home after the day's work. Further, the bombs were
planted in trains leaving Churchgate and plying towards the suburbs, thus
tracking the flow of the commuters, who work at business hubs including
Churchgate and Andheri and stay in suburbs.

So, in the morning, trains, which leave for Churchgate carry heavy crowd
from the suburbs, while in the evening, the trains that reach to suburbs
bring back this crowd. The timing of the blasts was also perfect. The
local trains in Mumbai carry the maximum strength of commuters between
8.00-10.00 in the morning and between 6.00-9.00 in the evening. The
blasts were triggered between 6.24-6.35 in the evening thus ensuring a
massive disaster.

Moreover, multiple blasts (as many as eight) took place within a span
of 11 minutes. Thus, the job was completed even before the authorities
could get time to react. As a corrective measure, the Western Railway
authorities shut down the operations and halted the trains immediately
after the series of blasts. It appears that such a stance of the
authorities was envisaged while planning the attack and care was taken
to give no time to them to control the damage.

The plan seems to be impeccable and above all it was executed so
perfectly. Now the question arises, who did it? The discipline and
accuracy that reflects from this episode is not a known attribute of the
most infamous ganglord from India, who became even more notorious after
the serial blasts on 12th March 1993. The job must have been done through
an agency, which understands the crowd dynamics of the Mumbai locals so
well and which can employ brains to use this knowledge to devise a plan
and execute it so professionally.

The day after...

Today morning, I took the same bus to the office, which I always
take. It was filled to the capacity as always. And I was barely standing
in the doorway of the bus as always! That was the reflection of the
unsurmountable spirit of the people in the city. Trains and buses were
packed as they do on any other weekday. The benchmark stock market
index BSE Sensex climbed another 200 points up intraday. In a way, the
Mumbaikars have raised that bad middle finger to the miscreants. This
is what we were on 13th March 1993 and we remain the same 13 years down
the line!

I personally don't foresee another major attack of this magnitude on
the city in at least next six months. This is because, until yesterday,
risk in lodging such an attack was minimal. Now, with one attack already
on their back, the authorities are on their toes. Thus, the risk in
another attack has been increased many-folds. And one more attack may
not serve much purpose as the agencies who conduct such an attack are
only interested in giving out some message to the populace... may be a
message that the system in which you stay can't protect you or simply,
we, the agency, exist.

Labels: Society

posted by Ranjit @ 7/12/2006 02:39:00 pm