Mumbai: This week marks five years since the Mumbai terrorist attacks, in which 166 people were killed over four days. Pakistani gunmen arrived in the city by boat on the evening of November 26, armed with machine guns and grenades. They attacked two hotels (the Taj and the Oberoi), the main train station, a café and a Jewish centre. Five years on, the danger of more such attacks in India remains real.
“There is still lot of work to be done on policing and intelligence,” said Bibhu Prasad Routray, a security analyst. We know that the intelligence bureau, which is the domestic Intel. Agency in India is still 40 per cent short in its personnel. We do not have adequate police on the ground. Routray adds that immediately after the Mumbai attacks, the government promised to set up three new agencies to work on counter terror.
Only one is operational. He also believes threats from abroad may not be India’s biggest concern. I think in future, the home-grown terror will be more frequent, because they can go in for smaller attacks, without really caring for much impact. Mumbai’s police commissioner at the time of the 2008 attacks, A.N Roy, is worried thousands of jobless youth across Mumbai are perfect targets for recruitment by crime and terror groups.
“They are vulnerable to being exploited or misled by any kind of people in to wrong activities. They can get into petty crimes. Hence to wean them away from this, the best way is to get those jobs, he said. He retired three years ago and now runs an NGO which works with community leaders, trying to find jobs for young people living in Mumbai’s slums.The ABC asked Mumbai police for comment, but they declined.
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply