Thoughts on Mumbai terror attack

Yet another attack and the same old reactions from the politicians, police and intelligence officers. A slew of measures are announced, deliberately with no firm timelines, so that these can be flagged as work-in-progress forever. The banal excuses of lack of consensus, centre-state equations etc will come in handy for not implementing these measures. Assuming optimistically that these measures are implemented, are these sufficient? I am afraid, no. As a society we have been for long engaged in doublespeak - criticizing violence when it does not suit us and ignoring or even justifying violence at other times. In this country, even for crimes of enormous gravity, there will be one or the other powerful section that supports and justifies the crime. UPA, BSP etc wants to go soft if the suspects/convicts are Muslims, Sangh Parivar wants to go soft if the suspects/convicts are Hindus, DMK wants to go soft if the suspects/convicts are Tamils and so on. Every party will put in its best efforts to scuttle probes or derail the trial if their cadres are involved in crime. Add to this, the efforts of the rich to get away with any crime by paying off everyone from police to witnesses to victims. The end result is that even the assasination of a former PM or serial bomb blasts or massacre of hundreds of people or attack on the country's parliament do not appear serious enough to ensure that the perpertrators are promptly punished. We have action/reaction theories, tree-falls-earth-quakes theories, postulated by our leaders to justify the worst forms of violence. The endless cycle of violence and retribution in the subc0ntinent gives little hope that Mumbai-like attacks will not recur again.

The government boosting security measures and adding NSG battalions is only part of the story. An equal part needs to be played by citizens in securing our own lives. This would involve sticking to rules, putting up with queues, tolerating frisking etc. As a nation, we prefer freedom to discipline, even if that means a threat to our lives. It is a common sight to see people sneaking below closed level crossing gates trying to save a few minutes and in some occasions getting crushed under speeding trains. Ditto for people prefering to attempt daredevil crossings on roads to save the trouble of walking on a foot overbridge. The irony is that despite all these, we do not give a damn about punctuality in our day to day lives. Politicians, sundry officials, their third cousins, grand nephews etc would begin a scramble to exempt themselves from checking, finally making a mockery of the security measures.
Historically, violence and terror as instruments of control and power are probably as old as the human race. Human history is punctuated by epic battles, involving brothers, different races, nations, compatriots, castes, religions and on two occasions, the entire world. Extrapolating this trend does not give much hope of peace and tranquility.