Why we are (And I am) responsible for the Mumbai Blasts
There have been the usual flurry of articles, debates, views, points and counterpoints about who is responsible for the Mumbai blasts, 2011.
The late CN Anna Durai, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, was supposed to have stated: "When you point a finger at someone, the other fingers of your own hand are pointing towards you".
It is very easy to blame everyone from the big bad Pakistani forces, LeT, Al Queda, poor policy-makers, ineffective Mumbai Police, partisan politicians (who politicise everything), lazy bureaucrats, etc.
However, look at the facts of the case.
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If you want to celebrate a simple birthday party of your 7-year old daughter inviting a few of her classmates and half-a-dozen relatives, you can very well imagine the kind of planning that goes behind the same:
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Preparing the invitee list
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Preparing an excuse list for leaving out certain names from the list
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Getting the home spruced up
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Arranging for adequate seating
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Planning for "fun activities"
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Planning for medical emergencies
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Deciding the nature of menu and timing of dinner
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Actually, the list could go on. Ask any friend who threw such a birthday party and she / he will confirm the complexities involved
In a similar vein, a major terrorist act such as the Mumbai blasts that shook the country could not have been executed without an enormous quantum of advance planning, including, but not restricted to:
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Identifying target spots
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Identifying nature of bombs
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Planning the date and time
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Procuring the ingredients for the bombs
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Arranging for assembling and safely storing the bombs till the "D-day"
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Arranging "safe-houses" for all the people who need to be physically present on the "D-day"
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Planning for and arranging for vehicles, including get-away vehicles.
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Arranging for "duplicate" names, along with stuff like ID cards, etc. for people who will be driving those vehicles
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Planning for the appropriate get-away routes.
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Arranging for communication devices, including multiple sim cards, and ensuring that the calls will remain "under the radar" till the "D-day"
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Arranging for finances for the entire operation. While some of them can be through cash transactions, some of the activities will necessitate bank transactions, especially for transactions which would arouse suspicion if paid in cash (such as rent advance, for instance).
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Getting "volunteers" to place the bombs in those precise locations where they will (a) remain undetected and (b) cause maximum damage
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Planning for the exact time at which the bombs need to go off on the "D-day"
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Planning to ensure that the "Real Big Fish" remains outside the "Net" of people who have any chance of getting caught. After all, the soldier can be sacrificed, but not the General.
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Arranging for "Plan B" and "Plan C" by way of back up measures for all the above
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Planning and arranging a process
Now, for virtually each of the above steps, the terrorist will have to have active interaction with the society at large. They need to contact "Members of the Civil Society" (terminology being used intentionally) for a variety of purposes including, but not restricted to:
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Hiring homes to stay in - before and after the "D-day"
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Getting hold of mobile instruments, multiple sim cards for each of the mobile instruments.
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Getting ingredients for bomb-making
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Hiring safe places to assemble and store bombs
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Training people to assemble, store and handle bombs
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Training people to set-off the trigger mechanism perfectly
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Arranging for vehicles
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Getting hold of funds
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Ensuring that people who hold the funds don't disappear with the funds
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Arranging for duplicate ID cards such as driving licences, passports, ration cards, voter ID cards, etc. for key personnel
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Arranging for one or more trial runs for the entire operation
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Ensuring that none of the actual operatives gets caught
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Getting volunteers to perform various activities all along the way
Obviously, ALL the above need to fall in place perfectly in unison to ensure that the terrorist plan succeeds. Even if a single step fails, the entire plan will fall flat.
If You and I do not cooperate actively and passively with the terrorists, they simply can't succeed. How do we end up cooperating with the terrorists? Here are a few samples:
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We let out our houses on rent to people without proper verification. Often, we don't even have a rent agreement. To save on a few rupees of income taxes, we often agree to receive rent by cash. In most cases, we don't inform anyone when we notice that "some odd-looking / oddly behaving persons" occupy a neighbouring flat. Way too often, we don't even care to notice who our new neighbours are and what they are upto.
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We agree to hire servants, maids, cooks, security guards, plumbers, electricians, etc. with absolutely no care about their origin.
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If someone is sleeping on the pavement of the roads, we're not bothered. Even if it continues on a regular basis for several weeks on end.
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If someone comes to a shop selling mobiles & SIM cards asking for a new SIM card or mobile instrument, we hardly bother to do even the most basic of checking as long as "the papers are in place"
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When a new neighbour, new colleague, new classmate asks us to get a mobile connection in our name to "help him out", we readily oblige.
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When an "aunt" or "uncle" or "cousin" comes over to stay with a neighbour, we don't bother even if it appears to be obviously false.
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We're willing to pay a bribe of a few hundred rupees to get a driving licence, to get a passport, to "pay-off" the traffic constable who stops us for a "minor" traffic violation. When we do all these "minor bribing", the receiving party starts expecting it and the whole thing gains a bit of legitimacy. At the end of the day, how does a "bribe-taking" RTO official know whether it is merely "speed-money" being given by a software engineer hard-pressed for time or "blood-money" given by a prospective terrorist trying to obtain a driving licence for a non-existent person? To top it off, we justify the whole thing by claiming that
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"Everyone does it"
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"Everyone can't be fighting the system like an Anna Hazare"
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"After all, it is such a minor thing"
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"Actually it is not a bribe - It is just a 'minor gift' to show our gratitude"
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We're unwilling to pay our taxes properly and take all possible steps to evade taxes, thereby depriving the government of resources to fight terror to that extent. (For instance, by "paying cash without a bill" to buy clothes, jewellery, groceries, medicines, etc. - Each of which results in tax evasion)
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We're unwilling to sell our houses without accepting / insisting on receiving part of the money "in black". We agree / insist that when we buy a house, part of the money will be given "in black" - so that we can reduce stuff like stamp duty, property taxes, etc.
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We're willing to pay a bribe to school authorities to get a school seat for our 4-year old children.
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We routinely seek to get subsidised products even when we're not entitled to get the same.
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When we see a domestic LPG cylinder being used in a tea-shop round the corner, we don't bother to report to the authorities.
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We park our vehicles on public property and pay-off the local cops / corporation authorities to ignore the encroachment
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We litter the streets all the time and encourage the corporation folks to seek "bakshis" for Deepavali, New Year, Pongal, etc.
Folks, there is simply no sense in simply blaming the politicians, police force, bureaucrats, "big, bad businessmen", etc. You can't expect the government to fix CCTV cameras and provide Z-Category security to every square inch of property all around the country. All of us have got to wake up. And shoulder our share of the responsibility before pointing fingers at anyone else.
The problem starts with YOU and ME. We need to change before we can ever hope for others to change. Till then, terrorists will continue to strike at will. Whenever they want. Wherever they want.
Regards,
N
