Wise men always look back and learn lessons from past mistakes to secure the future. Sadly, India has not learnt any lessons from 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Few laws were made. National Investigative Agency (NIA) was formed to handle terror related cases. But the country remains as vulnerable to such attacks as it was 10-years ago. From intelligence gathering to guarding important locations and the people, India has not moved even an inch to protect itself from such dangers.
Some may argue that after that tragic incident in Mumbai in 2008, no such attacks took place anywhere in the country, which stands as a testimony to the fact that security scenario in India has improved a lot since the horrific days when the country’s economic capital was under siege for more than 72 hours. But this argument holds no ground. Till today, terrorist are striking at will. Even defence establishments were attacked in Pathankot and Uri. Only a couple of days ago, there was reports that two terrorists had entered Punjab and snatched a car. A red alert was sounded in Punjab and adjoining states. The red alert was so ineffective that the two suspected terrorists managed to attack a religious place in Punjab. The incident clearly shows that we have not learnt any lessons from 26/11.
On 26/11, the attackers came via sea route. To enhance coastal security after the attack, it was decided that security posts would be set up on the costs throughout the country. Forget about the other coastal areas of the country, even the Mumbai coastal post is in shambles and virtually non-functional. There were proposals to modernise the Mumbai police force with advanced firearms. But those proposals largely remained on paper. Same is the case with other metros too. So we are left with just two options – either to combat the terrorists with age-old weapons or to wait helplessly till the National Security Guard (NSG) personnel arrive at the scene. Remember, in case of Mumbai attack, NSG jawans arrived after more than 12-hours since Ajmal Kasav and his partners opened fire on innocent people at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal (CST) railway station.
In terms of brutality and massacre Mumbai terror attack can only be compared with 9/11 attack on World Trade Centre. USA and other western countries have upgraded their security net since then. But in case of India things are different. The only visible change that came after 26/11 is the enhanced security of our political leaders. Rest of the citizens are still like the proverbial ‘sitting ducks.’ Not much has been done to secure their lives. Mumbai attack which was supposed to be an eye-opener has failed to awaken those who are entrusted with the job of keeping the country secured. Instead of taking all possible measures to rectify the flaws in our security net, they seem to be more interested in issuing verbal warnings to terrorists. Unless the situation changes, India will remain a favourite haunting spot for the terrorists, leaving the citizens defenceless.
