Indians For Guns

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indi ... 156146.cms

The security establishment's glaring shortcomings were all too obvious in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks but the FBI officer who coordinated the US probe from Washington has now given a damning indiction of the sloppy response.

Anthony Tindall, who was in the thick of the action at the time, described howi ll-equipped and ill-trained policemen virtually allowed the 10 terrorists to wreak havoc in the metropolis and how it was the US agency which helped them not only in tracing Lashkar's footprints but also getting planners and conspirators arrested in Pakistan.

Sharing lessons from the 26/11 attacks with South Florida law enforcement officers in the US on Wednesday, Tindall said the Mumbai attacks illustrated how terrorists "with little funding and basic weapons" could wreak havoc in a large metropolitan area.

As reported by Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel newspapers in the US, Tindall said many Indian officers (Mumbai cops) who responded were unarmed or lacked the anti-terrorism training that officers in the US have.

Though he did not name any Indian agency, he said logistical constraints had led to a delayed response -- the episode which saw NSG commandos take over 10 hours to reach Mumbai from Delhi. He said, "Other Indian authorities with greater terrorism experience were delayed in responding because they lacked a helicopter among other emergency vehicles."

It is not a secret that the NSG commandos had to first travel to Delhi airport from Manesar in Haryana by road on November 26, 2008 and then had to take bus to reach the attack sites from Mumbai airport the next morning in absence of helicopters.

During his presentation before South Florida law enforcement officers, the US agent also showed video surveillance footage of the Mumbai attacks. As reported in US media, one surveillance video showed that a couple of armed policemen at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (railway station) had, in fact, ran away instead of confronting two armed terrorists -- an example of how poor training led to a meek response during the crisis.

Referring to Mumbai policemen, the FBI agent, as quoted by Sun Sentinel, said, "Half of those guys were unarmed. That's half the battle right there." The presentation on 26/11 attacks was done to make US policemen aware of such situations so that they could be prepared if a similar crisis confronted them.

Emphasising the role played by FBI, Tindall, who is currently based in Hawaii as the FBI's liaison to the US Pacific Command, said the US agency had immediately deployed eight agents from Los Angeles as well as technicians who were "able to glean significant information from GPS, cellphones, satellite phones, Internet data, financial records, witnesses and boats". He said, "A lot of the information led back to Pakistan."

The FBI special agent, however, also stated that the arrest of Ajmal Kasab -- the lone surviving terrorist -- by Mumbai cops was a major turning point, terming him "an incredible source of information".

while none of report comes as a surprise, i note how the fbi officer is described as being "in the thick of action" at mumbai.

dodging bullets, shooting from the hip?

99% of the time the Indian Govt. will always be sloppy on all fronts, not only terrorist strikes, but military, foreign policy, domestic foodgrain shortages, sports, this is entirely due to the fact, that the technical chaps, who have loads of hands on experience ,have little say in a crisis which, requires an immediate and appropriate response. Any crisis, is first handled by the Politicians who defer it to the babus, who instead of quickly defering it to the techies, dither, or respond in a manner, which has little inputs from the technical experts.
It is not that India, is short of technical experts, these abound in plenty and with great exertise,its just that the goddamn political class and the bureaucracy which fetters appropriate quick response.
The NSG has been crying hoarse for a long time for airborne platforms for delivering quick strike capabilities, Ah, but then the politicians and the babus, will play footsie with the files, till such time , these chaps can get their commissions in line first.
The IAF has been for decades asking for the replacement of MIGs, so many yougn pilots have given up their lives, this has hardly bothered the political and the babu class. Its only when they realise the combined threat from China and Pakistan, that they have suddenly woken up. Laaton ke bhoot, baaton se nahin mante..

And we needed a US Agency to say that! Sad state of Policing.

State Police almost anywhere in India is now good for:

1) Setting up Barricades on highways, and speed-lanes.
2) extract money by extortion, threats.
3) take hush money from all criminals in the locality.
4) rip money off road side vendors,hawkers and even beggars.
5) chai-pani from anyone who enters police station even by accident.
6) steal money/material from accident victims.
7) run away from scenes of accident or crime.
8 ) mis interpret and twist every rule in the book to squeeze money out of a normal person.
9) shout out at anyone in vicinity, and the use of best slang vocabulary.(this is what i like the most!)
10) switching traffic lights from green to red, with the precision required to fine you.(Bangalore Police's specialty)
11) escort for VIP's or politicians.
12) create barricades and stop traffic for VIP movement.

and bad at:

1) Policing!
2) uphold law and order when needed.
3) helping the needy.
4) impartial actions.
5) responsibility to citizen!
6) Respect for fellow human!
7) Courtesy and humility.
8 ) Athletic capabilities.
9) Weapons handling.
10) Common-Sense!


Root Causes..

1) Police Act which is older than the nation by a 100 years, take a hearty laugh friends, Our Police act is 150 years old.
Core objects of the act as designed by British Government:
i) Oppress people and assist the Rule of Government.
ii) Inflict fear about themselves and government.
iii) Control freedom of expression and protest.

2) Posting by payment:
i) all metros and Tier1 cities have Constables paying lakhs for posting (unconfirmed, overheard, rumour as no one give receipt for this)
ii) Payment given to ruling party(reason why none wants a change, every one get chances,and every 5 years.)
iii) and this ends in Policemen working to earn back what they spent and not for service! (ASI (assistant Sub Inspector) in Bangalore booked by Lok-Ayuktha in 2009 had 4.5 crores assets, now who doesn't want to join Police?)


Reason for no changes in Police since independence, the governments still want to do the same crap as listed above!
And note this, this is one thing about which no political parties fight, no state and central governments fight.

And we still think we are independent...funny though!

Getting back to the topic at hand, I distinctly remember on the night of the 28th. I was glued to the TV hoping for an end to the madness. Almost every place had been cleared save for the Taj. The 'official' story coming from the press was that due to the layout of the building the security forces followed by the commandos were facing stiff resistance while trying to breach in.

I couldn't help notice quite late in the night, I cant remember if it was around 2am or 3 that I suddenly saw Ballistic/Kevlar(probably) shields being rushed in to assist the commandos. Next morning it was all over. If these shields were brought in earlier, it'd have saved some lives, probably the life of Major Unnikrishnan, and things might have been a little different.

But then if wishes were horses. We'd just beat that horse to death and then some more

regards

OUP