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Friday, July 15, 2011

Sir, Are you kidding me?

I was in "Maximum City" Mumbai just a week before. I recall a conversation with a cabbie who gave vent to his frustration mentioning " Saab, these politicians have no conscience. Wait and see there will be another blast and this time around it will just be a replay of the previous attacks"

He was so right.

On July 13, 2011, three separate blasts ripped across South Mumbai killing 18 people and injuring over a 150 innocent Mumbaikars.

Television channels went on overdrive trying to decipher, yet again, their coverage all too familiar, the questions all to known. I spoke to one of the leading TV anchors here and asked him..how was it different this time..er..reporting this terror strike. He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders.

I really can't fault the media here. There are some excellent reporters in this country, but one witness beat all of then to it. He said what they could not mention.

He called for the heads of the Home Minister Chidambaram and RR Patil the Mumbai minister. If our elected government cannot give us the basic security, then they should go. This man was right. His frustration emanated from the fact that Mumbai has been the target for repeated terrorist attacks. A record of sorts as no city in the world has been hit three times.

However, blaming the security apparatus solely or the establishment is perhaps a little too harsh. No security in the world can prevent a terrorist strike. People cite the example of New York, where after 9/11 no attack has taken place, though several attempts were made and the culprits nabbed. The "what If" factor however, cannot be discounted.

What is dangerous is that the home minister went on record stating that there was no intelligence at all. So the question goes begging

" Sir, Are you kidding me?