How many more terrorist attacks are we going to endure in the near future before citizens wake up to the tragic truth that our elected government is sleeping on the job??Do we need 'hints' from army experts that rdx was used to blow a crater into Pune's German Bakery?Do we need the Americans to remind us that they had warned India about the possibility of terrorist strikes in Pune more than a month ago, right before the visit of Robert Gates? Now we are told Nagpur, Nashik and other Tier-2 cities are on the hit list of our 'Good neighbours' ( SRK'S certificate of 'good conduct' to Pakistan).Despite the horror of the tragedy,P. Chidambaram is still making excuses for the abject intelligence failure and desperately trying to cover his department's exposed a**. Sorry dude, it's too late to make lame excuses. What took place in Pune was a disaster foretold - even the locations ( German Bakery, Osho Commune, Chabad House ) had been identified as targets. Yet, nothing was done to protect innocent lives! Our over- worked and underpaid cops were rushed from their absurd and unnecessary movie theatre duties to the spot at Koregaon Park where a powerful explosion killed 9 people and injured several more. All this carnage took place despite prior warnings and a discernible pattern to such attacks, which we are told are a part of the dreaded 'Karachi Project."
Citizens want to know what went wrong this time? What is the weak, unconvincing alibi for such a monumental intelligence failure? Who needs post-mortems and excuses? The stupidest part of our response is that we always step up security at the very location that has been devastated by a bomb, instead of anticipating and preparing for the next attack - an attack which is inevitable, given what soft targets we have reduced ourselves to. What is the point of beefing up security at the German Bakery after the deed is done and the place has been reduced to rubble?
What is the point of bringing in David Headley ( same guy who roamed the length and breadth of India freely till the Americans caught him!) each time there is a crisis? Why keep retracing his recces if nothing emerges from those trips? If our cops knew Headley's plans as they now claim, why couldn't they prevent the attack? Whether Headley stayed at Surya Hotel behind the bakery etc etc is a matter of zero interest in the context of what happened.Turning the Osho Ashram and Chabad House into fortresses now, also has little relevance. As for Chid's banning press interviews with the injured, it is such an obvious sham. What will it achieve? It is the right of journos to have access to the survivors struggling for their lives in city hospitals and file reports. How does that impact investigations? Chidambaram is nonchalantly saying it is not possible to check every student and every back packer. True. But it is definitely possible to follow leads provided by foreign agencies and take some preventive action. All our government posturing is reserved for 'later' - all explanations are given post-attack. All those amazing theories surface after the tragedy. Our ministers routinely pass the buck and trot out pathetic excuses for their own failure. Let me quote Chids again: " There is no intelligence failure, but please remember this is not an overt attack by gunmen. This is an insidious bomb that had been planted by what appears to be a backpack. It is practically impossible to check each backpack..."
This is our Home Minister talking !
In that case, why not abandon all efforts to enforce security at airports, hotels and other sensitive locations?? Why bother? Why not just sit on our butts and wait for the next attack since the government has all but thrown up its hands and conceded its helplessness in the matter?
Dumbos performing in the Jumbo Circus display higher levels of intelligence. Shame!