Random Thoughts

Not getting a network on your cell? Count your blessings!!

Have you ever thanked your mobile service provider for call drops or for not getting a network? Ask the people from Hyderabad. They must be thanking the hutch puppy profusely for not following them anywhere and everywhere and thus saving a few lives!

The aftermath of the Friday’s blast at a mosque in Hyderabad has revealed that the blast was triggered remotely from Bangladesh with the help of mobile network. A call was made to a cell phone attached to the bomb to carry out the explosion. Another blast was very much in the offing soon after the first one, which boomed at 1.22 pm. However, the call could not be completed this time due to a busy network, found out the investigators. A hutch prepaid card was found to be loaded in the Nokia phone that was attached to the second live bomb.

There are two things to be learnt from this hapless incidence. First, crime has gone really high-tech. Somebody sitting in Bangladesh and triggering explosion 1,200 miles away would have been a central plot of a Bond movie until recently. But, that has become a reality now. Second, crime can become howsoever high-tech, it still requires human help for execution. The blast might have been triggered by antisocial agencies but the prepaid cards which helped to trigger the explosion were supplied by some vendor in the Eastern part of India as per the details available with the news agencies. And, obviously, these cards were issued without verifying the identity of the customers, despite the fact that such validations have been made mandatory by the local telecom authorities. One doesn’t know how many more lives are needed to be taken before we as a nation become responsible about internal safety.

It happens again and again. For a few more rupees, we put national security and lives of many citizens at stake --- some times by issuing bogus passports and sometimes by renting homes to tenants without proper verification. Now with technology helping the antisocial elements, it’s high time that we behave as responsible citizens.

Labels: Society

posted by Ranjit @ 5/21/2007 11:13:00 am