The 60-hour terrorist assault on Mumbai evokes sharply conflicting emotions. There is the profound sense of loss at the senseless murder of men and women we knew, had even worked with; enormous relief that others we knew weren't in the wrong place at the wrong time; grief at the deaths of those in uniform who didn't flinch from doing their duty; and admiration for the real unsung heroes-the staff of the Taj and Oberoi hotels who went beyond the call of duty and saved innumerable hotel guests from certain death.

Unfortunately, the tears of sorrow, relief and pride are soon overwhelmed by a sense of blind fury directed at those who were responsible for the carnage and those whose callousness facilitated this devastating attack on India. To see Pakistan as the root of the problem is akin to saying that there is too much evil in this god-forsaken kaliyug. That there are "elements within Pakistan" (Manmohan Singh's attempt at subtlety) committed to the destruction of India, its civilisation and its way of life is undeniable. But this has been true for more than 60 years and is likely to be true as long as long as the impulses that divided the country persist. It also comes as no surprise to learn that the ISI may well have facilitated the Mumbai attack. But hasn't this been true for the past 30 years? Presenting a dossier to an ISI representative when he comes to Delhi to face the combined wrath of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister-a prospect that is about as terrifying as being savaged by a dead sheep-is a bit like confronting Dawood Ibrahim with evidence. What will fascinate Lt-Gen Ahmed Shujaa Pasha, who brushed off India's summons with contempt, is not finding out how much India knows but gauging just how much we don't know.

Making Pakistan the focus of our post-Mumbai recriminations is a juicy distraction which begs the question that Manmohan Singh and Shivraj Patil don't want to answer: What have we as a nation done to protect ourselves against this menace? The answer, regrettably, is: Precious little. It is enthralling to know, for example, that our intelligence agencies have taken less than 48 hours to discover that the attack was preceded by six months or so of meticulous planning. On TV, with characteristic aplomb, Kapil Sibal even told the country that the operational centre of the terrorists was two rooms in the Taj and Oberoi which, presumably, doubled up as an ammunition dump. What a shame that this information was not known and acted on a few days earlier. What a shame that the NSG and marine commandos who had to be summoned to flush out the terrorists weren't even provided elementary logistical support in the form of maps and local guidance. What a shame that the entire top brass of the Mumbai ATS was wiped out because it was led to believe that the carnage in Leopold Café was a burst of gangland madness. A little prior knowledge and the lives of 200 people, including 17 men in uniform, may have been saved.

In 'cracking' the case in three days and collecting 'clinching' evidence in record time, the Intelligence establishment and the Government can't escape responsibility for their own failings. What happened in Mumbai over the past three days wasn't India's first encounter with terror. India isn't some Switzerland where the police are preoccupied only with financial crime, illegal immigration and speeding offences. That India is a constant target and Mumbai a prime target were common knowledge. That we were caught so horribly unprepared suggests that our security preparedness is non-existent. This, in turn, implies that our agencies are either inept or focussed on forecasting polls and rounding up the usual suspects.

It's distressing to face the truth. But whether we like it or not the LeT's successful fidayeen attack on Mumbai is the best recruitment messages for hordes of impressionable Muslim youth. You can almost hear the lunatic from the pulpit boasting that if 10 mujahjdeen could keep the Indian State at bay for 60 hours, imagine what a thousand could do. After Mumbai, jihadis will not recoil in horror at the devastation their colleagues have done; they will intensify their campaign and engage in competitive bravado. The prospects for the future are horrifying. The ineptitude of our internal security apparatus has been exposed before the whole world. We can either act or decide that we are incapable of performing any better. In which case sheer self-preservation demands we outsource the job of R&AW and IB to Mossad or MI6 or CIA-depending on our preferences. It is preferable to being mowed down by bullets the next time we go to a mall or an Italian restaurant. Our soldiers are good, very good, but fighting terrorists in Mumbai is not their core competence.

All politicians, the English language TV channels tell us whenever the Congress is slightly beleaguered, are the real problem. Since we can't and shouldn't be governed by either the military or the police, this is a problem we have to fix. Cynicism is healthy but an overdose is counter-productive. Manmohan Singh and his Government have bungled and bungled grievously. The Congress and particularly the haughty woman who inflicted Shivraj Patil on India, must be punished. Yet we will need an alternative that is committed to India winning the war on two fronts-against terror and against economic mismanagement. It can be a meaningful alternative if its sheds the cupboard full of crazy home remedies and expired medicine that it has accumulated over the years. Mumbai has rung out the Manmohan Government; it is in all our interest to ring in a new but effective dispensation. The friends of India are watching but so are the enemies of India.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, November 30, 2008