As Mumbai mourns and limps back to semblance of normalcy, the inevitable questions arise. Who was behind this attack, who were the terrorists and why was our intelligence such a failiure and will our government continue to be so pathetically inept at leadership. But one question that will keep lingering is, what did the terrorists want ? What was the true purpose of their attack ?
\nYes, to create chaos and fear at the heart of India’s financial capital. Yes, to make a statement of how easy it is create mayhem. But there seemed no pattern to their behaviour, other than random killings. At one time the media kept talking about them taking hostages – especially Westerners – but you do not take hostages without either using them to escape or make demands. These terrorists did not even think of escaping, reconciled as they were to their own deaths. Nor did they make any demands. While we thank God that they did not – if just random killing was their only motive, then they could have killed many more people than they did. With grenades and automatic weapons in a railway station – or with the taking over of two major hotels, the death toll could have been far far greater. Imagine if they had just randomly killed all the hostages instead of herding them together ?
\nWas there an objective that failed ? For all the carnage and death they caused, was this a failed attack where the primary objective was not achieved ? Or ( I would like t believe that ) were these attackers young men – almost boys – that could not carry out the initial objectives. Is it possible that once you are faced with people who’s eyes you can look into – who can talk to you – they cease to become perceived enemies, but human beings. Is it possible then that even a trained terrorist, would begin to doubt his fiery passions as he looks around and recognizes the sheer inhumanity of what he has done or is about to do ?
\nWe may never know the answers, but it is important to search for them. Terrorism has to be stopped not only by by tight and ruthless security, but also by understanding the mind of the terrorist. For all the rhetoric of some of the terrorists being from Pakistan, all accounts seem to lead to the conclusion that a large number of the group were from India. We must at all cost try and stop our own people believing that the only way for them to make their statement is to kill their own people so indiscriminately. We as a nation have failed if we alienate our own people so much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Mumbai mourns and limps back to semblance of normalcy, the inevitable questions arise. Who was behind this attack, who were the terrorists and why was our intelligence such a failiure and will our government continue to be so pathetically inept at leadership. But one question that will keep lingering is, what did the terrorists […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"yoast_head":"\n