The Mumbai Massacre

I would like to take one moment to remember the victims of the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks. There are no words, no media reports, and no video footage that can adequately convey the sheer horror of the massacre and the feelings of those close to the victims.

For several excruciating days, the whole world followed this incident with jaws agape, hands over mouths. I was in disbelief. It reminded me of the Munich Olympics massacre in 1972 when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were taken hostage and murdered by Palestinian militant group Black September (for an unstinting look at the violence, check out Steven Spielberg's acclaimed movie 'Munich'). The Mumbai murders unfolded before our eyes like a well-scripted movie, only we weren't watching it in the cinema but in the nightly news.

There is no need to go over the sordid details here - suffice to say, mass murder was conducted in the name, or misuse, of religion. Witnesses described the gunmen spraying bullets with a smile etched on his face. I don't know what training these people underwent to attain such barbarism. I'm just glad the whole ordeal is over, but it revealed significant cracks in the government.

Why, people are asking, did the Indian armed forces react so slowly? They apparently took 3 hours to arrive on the scene where they could have taken 2, and after the slew of terrorist attacks plaguing India in the last 5 years, why is the government still responding at a snail's pace? The rule is that crises of this scale must be dealt with in 30 minutes or it will spiral out of control.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil's resignation is too little too late. It is small compensation for the dearly departed and the government's failure to swiftly resolve the crisis. This just goes to show the importance of an efficient government mechanism. If a country is to adequately defend itself and its people from certain death, there is no room for complacency.

As India, and in some way the world, recovers from this tragedy, one can only hope that more is done in the future.

R.I.P.