I’m posting the updates on Mumbai blasts in this post itself.
[The Mumbai blasts] [How gruesome can it get?] [Playing into the terrorists' hands] [General holiday, instead of bandh] [Jamming the phones] [Mumbai-Dubai connections?] [More links]
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- Mumbia Help — How can we help you?
- Mumbai help Wiki — if you have any information, please add here
- Google map of Mumbai blasts
- Another Wiki on Mumbai blasts
- Contact people and leave your own phone numbers
Mumbai has again been rocked by bomb blasts. There were 8 7 blasts in less then 11 minutes; more than 175 190 people have died as of now. People near the blast sites have displayed exceptional courage trying to help the survivors. The images I’m seeing on TV are really ghastly. People have been blown to pieces and their shreds stuck in the debris. I hope no communal flare-ups happen in the wake of these gruesome blasts, because this was the sole purpose of these blasts. Interestingly, deservedly, the Mumbai people are requesting politicians to stay away from the city, as no administrative help was available even after an hour. All the time the train passengers and the locals rushed the injured to various hospitals. All the politicians appearing on various TV channels are sounding as clueless as it can be possible. When a TV reporter asked the Maharashtra CM what information the government had regarding the blasts, the gem he presented was, “The only information we have got right now is that they were bomb blasts.” So impressive! The country is so safe now.
How gruesome can it get?
I’ve been editing this post since yesterday evening (July 11, 2006)
As the comment left by Mridula, she is raising the issue (along with links from some other blogs) on the kind of footage being broadcast on the Indian “national” channels. I’m putting national in quotes because they are supposed to be “reputed” channels. They are tripping over each other trying to show images and small video clips sent to them by what they call the “citizen journalists” and they are in such a hurry to show the pictures that even as known a journalist as Barkha Datt on NDTV “apologized” that they didn’t have enough time to edit the shocking pictures and video clips. The justification, as one Aajtak journalist put it, is that the destructive forces must see what kind of carnage they have orchestrated. Well, hello! That was there purpose, and the more gruesome images you beam, the more satisfaction and sense of achievement they get. They hadn’t placed those bombs to stop your hiccups dammit.
Commercialization too was of the crass type. There were dead bodies, mutilated bodies, and underneath you could see advertisement captions from underwear sellers and property builders and private educational institutes. I understand that advertising revenue is something that cannot be shrugged away, but at least they can keep those pyrotechnic images blocked while they show people dealing with tragedies.
Playing into the terrorists’ hands
The Shiv Sena — as you can’t expect anything decent from these lampoons — has declared a bandh in protest. This is exactly the kind of effect the terrorists want. Sometimes I feel most the political parties work in tandem with terrorist organizations and that’s why most of the time they are acting so irresponsibly.
General holiday, instead of bandh
There must have been 100s of people who couldn’t reach home yesterday. Instead of the proposed bandh the government can declare a general holiday so that people can come to terms with the massive tragedy. I think even those people who have not been directly affected by the blasts would like to spend a quiet day with their loved ones and be thankful about being alive and safe in these capricious, terror-ridden times. This holiday can also be used to leash the divisive forces like the Shiv Sena.
Jamming the phones
I think this was a very stupid decision taken by the Mumbai police (which the Mumbai commissioner categorically denied). They said it was done so that people could not spread rumours. The immediate casualty was communication. Just imagine, when it was the really real time to make use of landline and cell phones, they were stopped from working. A functional communication setup is the biggest asset a city has during large-scale catastrophes. People couldn’t even tell their loved ones whether they were alive or dead, injured or not injured. I think when things settle down a bit, strong action should be taken against people who took this decision. Rumours generally spread by word-of-mouth.
Mumbai-Dubai connections?
It was recently declared on India TV that immediately after the blasts calls were made to Pakistan and Dubai. So much for Musharraf’s commisserations.
More links
- Post on Counter terrorism blog about the Mumbai blasts
- Dilip D’Souza visited the Mumbai blasts locations
- We should avoid assumptions, says Saswat, in the wake of the Mumbai blasts
- Mumbai blasts coverage by Gaurav Sibnis
- The American reaction on Mumbai blasts
- Contradicting the fears, the stock market was not cowed down by the blasts
- The NRIs condemn Mumbai blasts
- Lashkar-e-Taiba hand suspected
- Coverage of Mumbai blasts in New York Times
- The Indian financial capital cannot be stopped, rightly claims Financial Express
- Mumbai blasts’ account in Guardian Unlimited
- Rediff links the blasts to Al Qaeda
