First some data points from the obsequiously triumphant, and complacently stipendiary Indian press. Then some questions and a brief analysis about the Mumbai terrorists. The Indian press has been sensationalizing the Mumbai terror. Other than the Murdock media, the world media is skeptical about the Indian media’s innuendo and sensational finger pointing at Pakistan. The Indian officials are now backing off from their knee jerk reaction on blaming Pakistan for any and all evil in India.

The knee jerk reaction of the Indian media is to blame the neighbors. “Deccan Mujahideen” has never been heard of before and seems to be a made up name to malign Muslims–a favorite tactic of the Hinduvata extremists.

Why is the Indian media so immature? Why does sensationalism override journalistic sanity? Why is breaking news the Deity on which truth and altruism is sacrificed on a daily basis? It is pedagogical to note the speed at which the fingers point towards Muslims in general and Bangladesh and Pakistan in particular. Hardly had the ink dried on the news story on the Samjhota Express when the fingers were pointed at Pakistan and Bangladesh. It turned out that the culprits who blew up a train going to Pakistan turned out to be members of the Indian Armed forces with links to the BJP, RSS, Mr. Advani and Mr. Modi.

More than 4,000 Indians have died in terrorist attacks - the country is the second biggest victim of terror after Iraq and virtually every one of its big cities has faced a terrorist attack. Yet the government has no centralised terrorist database, its intelligence is abysmal and there is little evidence that the state knows who it is fighting.

In dragging its feet, the Indian state does nobody a greater disservice than Indian Muslims. When there are no real suspects, arrests or trials, everyone becomes a suspect. Already an underclass, with low literacy rates, low incomes and poor representation in government jobs, Indian Muslims are increasingly alienated. There is also great pressure on them.

Nobody wants to listen to genuine grievances about poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in the face of a real threat to the country. Many Hindus want Muslims to come clean on the issue of the jihad and to make clear whose side they’re on. From The Sunday Times, November 30, 2008, Growing rift threatens to tear India apart Hindu-Muslim tensions will rise further. Aatish Taseer is the author of Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey through Islamic Lands, to be published in March by Canongate.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned on Sunday, owning the moral responsibility for terror attacks in Mumbai….Sonia pulled up Patil in the CWC meeting and wanted to know the reasons of intelligence failure that led to a serious situation in Mumbai, a senior party leader unwilling to be named said. Hindustan Times. November 29th, 2008

The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel in Mumbai had been warned of a possible terrorist attack and had temporarily beefed up security…Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group. Hindustan Times. November 29th, 2008

“As far as we know, none of our staff is involved in the terrorist attack… We do not have any indication that anybody (involved in the attack) had checked in advance,” Oberoi Hotels & Resorts Chairman PRS Oberoi told reporters in Mumbai. Hindustan Times

MUMBAI: India’s intelligence services had delivered at least three precise warnings that a major terrorist attack on Mumbai was imminent, highly-placed government sources have told The Hindu. The HIndu November 29th, 2008

Mumbai: The high motivation levels of the terrorists, who laid siege to the Taj Mahal hotel, prolonged the fierce gun battle for about 60 hours, said National Security Guard (NSG) commandos, who participated in the operation. The Hindu, November 29th, 2008

The Sunday Express has learnt that on November 19, just about a week before the attack, one of the intelligence agencies had circulated “top secret” information on the basis of an intercept the previous day that an attack had been planned from sea on Mumbai and would be effected very soon. While November 26 was not mentioned as a precise date, sources said, another date before the day of the attack was specified. It also said the terrorists could probably come by an Indian fishing trawler.

This input was passed on for further analysis to the National Security Council Secretariat and Joint Intelligence Council. Subsequently, this was shared with the Navy and the Coast Guard. Also, it was sent in the form of an advisory to Maharashtra. However, somewhere through the entire process, the seriousness and authenticity of the input were interpreted differently by different agencies. However, weaknesses in police manpower and training allowed the attacks to proceed, the sources said. The Sunday Express, November 29th, 2008

The challenge that faces the Indian authorities in preventing such assaults in the future is immense, not least because of the country’s size and social complexity.

As well as the long-running Muslim separatist struggle in Kashmir, there are Maoist insurgencies in 15 of India’s 31 states, and sectarian frictions that regularly boil over into violence. AFP, November 29th, 2008

India has a few blind spots. It does not know about the blind spots. There is no one to show her the blind spots. India, a youthful country overrun by youngsters seeking out a subsistence living in the mirage of Bollywood is unable to look at itself with any semblance of realism. A star struck destitute and impecunious populace is proud of evanescent and unattainable trophies, venerating educational institutions it can only brag about (never get admitted to), Billionaires it can worship on statistic charts and luxuries that it can dream about. Inebriated by blindness towards a the goal of superpower status this populace is unable to see the deep cavities within its boundaries. The Indian story in the press has too many holes. It just does not hold water. There are many questions being asked by analysts around the world:

1) How did the supermen from the dingy boats after traveling for several hours on sea arrive in Mumbai without being detected?

2) What was the “Blue Water Navy” of the “Superpower” doing?

3) Why could the Indian Coast Guard not prevent the arrival of two boats?

4) How did the supermen from the two boats walk around with Klashnikovs on the shore without being detected?

Military sources tell rediff.com that there was no way the terrorists could have carried so much ammunition with them when they assaulted the two hotels with their guns blazing. They believe the ammunition may have been stored earlier in rooms at both the hotels, perhaps on the higher floors.

5) How did they know where to go?

6) If the purpose was to cause mayhem, why didn’t to stick around on the peers and shoot their innocent victims there?

7) How were they transported from the shore to the Oberoi?

8- How did they survive for 72 hours? What was their source of nutrition?

9) According to all reports they really knew their way around the Oberoi, Taj and the Nariman House. How could they be so familiar with the hotels if they had just arrived on boats into Mumbai.

The terrorists are said to have set up control rooms at the Taj and Trident hotels, a Cabinet minister told PTI on Thursday. When were these bookings made? A detailed investigation into the bookings made at both hotels in the months, weeks and days before the attacks may reveal the names of suspicious guests who registered there.

10) Why did the Nariman House order 100 chicken? Were they expecting the terrorists to eat there?

11) How was the head of the Security Forces assassinated (Hemant Karkare, the brave ATS chief )? Hemant Karkare was wearing a helmet and a bullet proof vest. The head of the Security Forces was instrumental in fingering the Hinduvata extremists in the Samjhota Express bombing and others.

12) Why were helicopters used to storm a two story building of the Narmian House? The noise of the chopper would have given the terrorists a clear indication of the arrival of the SWAT team. The way they fell on the rooftop thud, thud, the terrorists had enough time to execute their evil plans.Masked Indian commandos dropped from helicopters Friday onto the roof of a Jewish centre in Mumbai where Muslim militants were holed up, possibly with hostages, as sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire. (Siddhartha Babaji/Associated Press)

13) There were European officials who had just arrived in one hotel and after ten minutes they left, just before the attacks!

14) The Deccan Mujahideen had also claimed responsibility for bombings in Jaipur in May. Why is the Indian Government and the world media feigning ignoramus on this?

Two of the hostages killed were identified as Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, the couple who ran the centre, said a spokesman for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Their 18-month-old son had been one of three people rescued from the centre on Thursday.In a telephone interview with CBC News from outside the centre, freelance journalist Arun Asthhana said there are reports that some of the militants had stayed at a guest house there for up to 15 days before the attacks.”They had a huge mass of ammunition, arms and food there,” Asthhana said. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/28/mumbai-attacks.html Reign of violence in Mumbai ends as authorities seize hotel. 6 hostages found dead at Jewish centre

15) Was there an Israeli connection? What role did Mossad play in this drama?

16) How many terrorists were there?

How many terrorists were there? Did they number 20 as Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told a press conference on Thursday? Or did they number many more? If two or three terrorists attacked the CST, how many terrorists were present at the Taj and Trident? Did the CST terrorists drop a grenade/explosive device at Dockyard Road on the way to the station? Or was someone else responsible for that act of terror which claimed three lives? http://morris108.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/mumbai-indians-asking-more-questions-indian-web-site/

India’s population is full of glee at the misfortunes of its neighbors, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The Indian Union is sending space rockets but cannot feed its people. There is something fundamentally wrong with a mentality that laughs at the destruction of the Marriot and blames the world for the carnage in Mumbai. There is a pathological problem with the the leaders of a country that sends $1 Billion to Afghanistan in a fools gold irridentist and revanchist errand to prop up a puppet President in Kabul. There is no moral compunction in supporting the Mayor of Kabul whose writ does not extend beyond Kabul. All this in a Quixotic mission to encircle Pakistan and extend Indian influence to the Amu Darya and beyond.

• Who did it? “This is not India’s 9/11″-Christine Fair: Communalism, penury, racism, caste disparty are destroying the Indian Union
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• France mimics US & world thinktanks: Kashmir must be solved

Young xenophobic India votes for those that are hegemonistic and autochthonous. Its leadership impervious of the needs of the penuriousis is focused on expansionism and destabilizing its neighbors. It behaves like crack-addicts overwhelmed by blind hatred for Buddhists (the real ones who are not Hindu), Dalits, Christians and Muslims–this leadership doesn’t have a clue of what the white world thinks of Indians– unavoidable supplicators at best and disposable computer coolies at worst!

Numerous theories are doing the rounds about the dastardly terrorist assault on Mumbai. The dominant view, based on what is being suggested by the media, is that this is the handiwork of the dreaded Pakistan-based self-styled Islamist and terrorist outfit Lashkar-e Tayyeba, which, ever since it was ostensibly proscribed by the Government of Pakistan some years ago, has adopted the name of Jamaat ud-Dawah. Yogi Sikand

The blue water navy that was so proactive of the coast of Aden is unable to protect the ports and border of the tri color. While the INS Tabar was wasting its propeller power around the Gulf of Aden, hell was breaking loose in the capital of commerce and currency in Mumbai. While Commodore Suresh Mehta was sinking the Oberoi and the Taj were up on flames. If the Indian version of events is to believed, the Blue Water Navy of India has been a total failure. It has the ability to sink motherships (which turned out to be Thai trawlers) but cannot track 2 dinghies approaching the statues of Shivaji long the shore line of Marine Drive.

Rupee News for the past several years has been discussing the Indian support for terrorists in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. India has been playing with fire. It appears that the analysis of Rupee News was correct.

(CNN) — Three days after gangs of gunmen launched a murderous rampage in Mumbai, India, killing at least 183 people, the emphasis in the Indian media has quickly turned from shock to anger and recrimination. Security forces gather outside the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai during the siege.

The Delhi-based Times of India questioned the country’s lax security in the wake of the deadly attacks.It asked: “How did terrorists — at least 20 of them — seem to have come in rubber dinghies and evade the entire security establishment?”Clearly, our long coastline dotted with ports, oil rigs and tourist resorts is a porous border.”India’s financial daily, The Economic Times, asked whether “India’s 9/11″ was a wake-up call?

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Neither the Indian Coast Guard, nor the Rangers, nor the Maritime Security Agency, nor the police or army could trace, track, follow or stop this band of supermen. The number of the men who walked on the shores of the Godess Mumbai is in dispute–the elasticity a result of the confusion chaos and the vested interests who want to blame someone.

Referring to the new strategy of using gunmen in direct attacks on the city, it asked: “Is it possible that the terror groups had realized the diminishing effect of their earlier tactics of planting bombs in crowded places and vehicles?”

The Telegraph in Calcutta bemoaned the apparent lack of information available to the authorities on the ground in Mumbai which culminated in “the embarrassing daylong standoff at the Taj that left the twin successes at the Oberoi-Trident complex and Nariman House stained.”

The terrorists, it added, were able to tease the security forces with “alarming aplomb” as they “crossed corridors, jumped floors and weaved rings round army platoons, NSG commandos and all their assorted comrades in arms.”

…”The government’s nonserious approach is reinforced by reports that the Mumbai attackers arrived in the city by the sea route,” Senior BJP leader L K Advani was quoted as saying. CNN

• “You blame SIMI for blasts in temples, you blame SIMI for blasts in market places, you blame SIMI for blast Masjids. The latest blast has taken place just below the SIMI office. Now whom will you blame ?“( Mailtoday, Oct 3, 2008)
• The investigation in Samjhuta express blasts (66 killed, Feb 19, 2007) where six bombs were planted inside Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express has also not shown any progress and neither any organisation has been named.
• The case of Mecca Masjid blasts ( 11 killed, May 18, 2007 -Friday) where two bombs were planted inside Mecca Masjid in boxes, is also pending with CBI.
• The enquiry into Ajmer Sharif bomb blasts (3 killed, October 11, 2007 - Friday) where two bombs in tiffin boxes wee used and where ammonium nitrate bombs were triggered by mobile phone has also not made much headway. The case at present pending with Rajasthan police has also not named any organisation.

questions are being raised in some circles. The significant fact that Hemant Karkare, the brave ATS chief who was killed in the terrorist assault, had been investigating the role of Hindutva terrorist groups in blasts in Malegoan and elsewhere and had received threats for this has not gone un-noticed. Nor has the related fact that the assault on Mumbai happened soon after disturbing revelations began pouring in of the role of Hindutva activists in terror attacks in different parts of India. That the attack on Mumbai has led to the issue of Hindutva-inspired terrorism now being totally sidelined is also significant.

And then there is a possible Israeli angle that some are raising. Thus, the widely-read Mumbai-based tabloid Mid-Day, in an article about a building where numerous militants were holed up titled ‘Mumbai Attack: Was Nariman House the Terror Hub?’, states: Yogi Sikand

INDIA: Dr. Ilaiah, persecuted Dalit author of “I am not a Hindu”. Many in the press have been saying for the past few weeks that the BJP will stage some spectacular attack to spark ethnic rioting and then use the communal card to come to power. Narendar Modi has done this in Gujarat before. An attack on a train was staged and then more than 2000 innocent people, mostly women were raped, murdered and burned. India’s Securithy concerns: Naxalites, Kashmir, 7 Sisters & Communalism

“The role that Nariman House is coming to play in this entire attack drama is puzzling. Last night, residents ordered close to 100 kilograms of meat and other food, enough to feed an army or a bunch of people for twenty days. Shortly thereafter, the ten odd militants moved in, obviously, indicating that the food and meat was ordered, keeping their visit in mind, another cop added.

“One of the militants called up a television news channel and voiced his demands today, but, interestingly, when he was asked where are they all holed him, he said at the Israeli owned Nariman House and they are six of them here”, one of the investigating cops said. Since morning, there has been exchange of gun fire has been going on and the militants seem well equipped to counter the cops fire. To top it, they have food and shelter. One wonders [if] they have the support of the residents, a local Ramrao Shanker said.”

A Mossad/Israeli hand in the affair might seem far-fetched to some, but not so to others, who point to the role of Israeli agents in destabilizing a large number of countries as well as possibly operating within some radical Islamist movements, such as a group in Yemen styling itself ‘Islamic Jihad’, said to be responsible for the bombing of the American Embassy in Sanaa, and which is said to have close links with the Israeli intelligence. Some have raised the question if the Mossad or even the CIA might not be directly or otherwise instigating some disillusioned Muslim youth in India, Pakistan or elsewhere to take to terror by playing on Muslim grievances, operating through existing Islamist groups or spawning new ones for this purpose. Yogi Sikand

The Hinduvata will be using it to win elections. Indian officials are in a quandary. They are “rapt withal” unable to blame the internal terrorists or the mafia, forced to blame others. Pakistan is the favorite kicking boy of the media. Drunk with a false sense of “superpower status”, India is incapable of taking stock of its own internal issues. Indians are inebriated with the panglossian gloss perpetuated by Bollywood and a Western press pushing India towards a collision with China. India today it totally incapable of introspection and taking corrective actions.

If this charge is true-although this remains to be conclusively established-the aim might be to further radicalize Muslims so as to provide further pretext for American and Israeli assaults on Islam and Muslim countries. The fact that the CIA had for years been in very close contact with the Pakistani ISI and radical Islamist groups in Pakistan is also being raised in this connection. The possible role of such foreign agencies of being behind some terror attacks that India has witnessed in recent years to further fan anti-Muslim hatred and also to weaken India is also being speculated on in some circles.

Whether all this is indeed true needs to be properly investigated. But the fact remains that it appears to be entirely in the interest of the Israeli establishment and powerful forces in America to create instability in India, fan Hindu-Muslim strife, even to the point of driving India and Pakistan to war with each other, and thereby drag India further into the deadly embrace of Zionists and American imperialists.

In other words, irrespective of who is behind the deadly attacks on Mumbai, it appears to suit the political interests and agendas of multiple and equally pernicious political forces-Islamist and Hindu radicals, fired by a hate-driven Manichaean vision of the world, but also global imperialist powers that seem to be using the attacks as a means to push India even deeper into their suicidal axis. YOGI SIKAND: Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur Soye, Dukhia Das Kabir Jagey Aur Roye,The world is ‘happy’, eating and sleeping, The forlorn Kabir Das is awake and weeping

Under the facade of a secularism, India remains a conglomeration of opposing conflicts ready to explode like Yugoslavia or implode like the USSR.

Several nights are now actively publishing questions. We will try to keep our readers abreast of the situation as always.

• # If some of the terrorists had registered at the hotels earlier, could these men/women have left along with the guests who were released? Did the police record the identities and addresses of the guests who were released from both hotels?
  # Indian Hotels Chairman Ratan Tata indicated on Thursday that the terrorists had intimate knowledge of the Taj, its service corridors, its layout. Does this mean that they had a mole inside the Taj? Or more worrying, did a couple of them work there at some point of time? Did they have drawings of the layout of the two hotels?
  # If the terrorists were Pakistani, how did they have such an intimate knowledge of the terrain? The two or three cowards who attacked the CST on Wednesday night made their way from the CST through a road on the left side of The Times of India building towards the Cama and Albess hospital/Azad Maidan police station, a route that is known only to true-blood Mumbaikars. Were they locals? Or did they conduct extensive reconnisance of the likely routes of escape?
  # These same two or three men, who are said to have commandeered ATS Chief Hemant Karkare’s police Qualis after shooting him, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and Inspector Vijay Salaskar, revealed similar familarity with the road outside the Esplanade Court, making an easy U-turn towards the Metro cinema junction rather than head on the road towards the CST. How did they know this if they were Pakistanis?
  # How did those men, whose images have appeared all over the world, get to the CST from Colaba where they are said to have landed by boat? Did they take a taxi? Or did they have local transportation? Did they come by a suburban train, which could explain the firing on one of the suburban train platforms? Who left the grenade on the Gitanjali Express, which killed a Bengali mother?
  # The terrorists are said to have done extensive reconnisance of the city. If they are Pakistanis, how did they get earlier entry to the city unnoticed? Did they come in by boat? Or did they use other routes to escape notice?
  # Such an operation could not have been conducted without extensive training and preparation, possibly on models of the Taj and Trident or Chabad House/Nariman House. Could this have been achieved at the rudimentary training camps hosted by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba in Pakistan occupied Kashmir? Or was it a more systematised operation conducted by a State agency in a hostile country?
  # How did they know Chabad House/Nariman House, which even long-time residents of Colaba - the area in South Mumbai where the Taj, the Leopold Cafe and Chabad/Nariman House are located - are unfamiliar with? The choice of this target indicates precision thinking - it is doubtful if the Lashkar strategists are capable of such deep strategy - and again points the needle of suspicion at a government intelligence agency in a nation inimical to India or renegades within such a bureau.
  # Early on Thursday morning, the television channels spoke about an exchange of fire between the terrorists and the police near the Liberty cinema (which is close to the Metro cinema/Cama hospital, but situated on an inner road). There was even fear expressed that these terrorists would enter the Bombay hospital, but nothing was heard about them thereafter. Where did they go? Were these two/three terrorists the same men who took over the police Qualis and shot at people near the Metro junction? Or have they escaped?
  # The police say the two men, who took over the Qualis, grabbed the Skoda that was halted at a police road block near the Girgaum Chowpatty beach. One of them was later killed by the police. Where did the other man go? Is he the Ismail, the Lashkar terrorist who is appparently singing like a canary to the police? Or is he someone else? If these are the two of the three terrorists who attacked the CST, what happened to the third man seen in photographs and video captures? Where did he vanish?
  # Another terrorist is said to be in custody. Where was he captured? What has he told the police?
  # The Times of India reported on Friday morning that wellknown food critic Sabina Sehgal-Saikia’s cellular phone recorded activity in the Raigad area, which is located across the sea from the Taj, where she was staying on the night of the attacks? Nothing has been heard from Saikia for over a day, so how did her phone reach Raigad? Could one of the terrorists have escaped under the guise of a guest to the Raigad area?
• To this Mohit says: Sabina’s husband has clarified that Airtel reps have told him that since the towers around Taj were shut down, it is possible that the phone might have picked up the signal from Raigad tower.
  # Could some of the terrorists have come by boat from the Alibag-Murud Janjira area in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, rather than from Pakistan? Boats ply through the day from the Alibaug area to the Gateway of India, and it would be easy for terrorists to use this mode of transport rather than high-speed boats which would have attracted the Coast Guard’s attention.
  # According to a Maharashtra Times report, the two terrorists who killed the three police officers on Wednesday night spoke Marathi! This disclosure casts fresh doubt on the origin of the terrorists. Or did each terrorist from an enemy nation have an Indian accomplice accompanying him?
  # If the attacks were restricted to South Mumbai for logistical reasons, who was responsible for the explosion on the taxi near the Santa Cruz airport in northwest Mumbai, which is located at least 25 km from Colaba?
• Uttara wants to know:
  # If the terrorists are interested in something, how come they have not made any demands in spite of having taken so many hostages? If they kept the hostages for so long, they should have started negotiations also. This indicates that they have some other, larger ultimate objective. What is that, and has it been investigated?
  # The Deccan Mujahideen may or may not be a valid front. Has the Andhra Pradesh police and security forces started investigating that? What are the results of that?
  # Has there been any additional discussion on the terrorists who might have escaped into Bombay city, apart from these three locations? If the dead terrorists had blueprints of the major areas in the city, it means that they might launch an attack on these locations after the Taj, Oberoi and Colaba encounters are over. Have the police been investigating this, and has there been any safety precautions? The names of these places should be circulated, and civilians asked to refrain from going to those locations, so that casualties can be at a minimum. When will this be done?
• Ravi wants to know:
  # Why did the terrorists not blow up the full building itself? What can be the reason for this? I do not believe that they do not have the ammunition for that or planning. I believe if they wanted they could have done it.
• Winnie wants to know:
  # What is the Navy doing around the Colaba area? Why is it not monitoring or keeping a check on what goes on in the seas just below its nose?
  # Why doesn’t Mumbai have enough fire ladders or other equipment which can put out fires like the ones set at the Taj?
  # Even in a terrorist attack why are most of our constabulary seen with antique rifles and without bulletproof attire?
  # Why are civilians seen in and around the affected areas in spite of a curfew call?
  # Why do the best hotels in Mumbai have such pathetic security?
• Govind wants to know:
  # Are the CCTV records of the hotels available?
  # Assuming such large quantities of weapons had been pre-stored in the hotels, is there any security system to search these bags while being taken to the hotel?
  # Are there any missing hotel staff after the attack?
• Rajendra wants to know:
  # How come the terrorists were able to fight for more then 40 hours? This is very clear that all these people got the arms and weapons ready on site in advance. Isn’t this a question on the qualification and intelligence of our police and all other security agencies?
• Sujoy wants to know:
  # Manmohan Singh has claimed that this terror attack has been executed by external forces. What proof has the government got in order to make such a claim? Every time a situation like this happens, the government of India makes such claims and then they give no proof to anyone, especially the common people who are always kept in dark.
• Vinu wants to know:
  # When the commandos of the navy and the army are there why were ATS officers involved in the operation, who are ill equipped and lost their life? The man who ordered this should be held responsible for the death of bright officers and must be procecuted.
• Lokesh wants to know:
  # Why the BCCI does not organise India-Pakistan cricket matches on neutral grounds? How many Pakistanis return after the match? How many sneak through on a tourist visa?
  # Why cant we have a centralised SSN (Social Security Number) system in India?
• Amit wants to know:
  # Whether there are terrorists holed up in other parts of Mumbai and surroundings, as they were inside those targeted hotels? What action is necessary for those hiding terrorists in other parts, right now unknown to us?
  # How did they procure AK-56 rifles? What action is necessary which need to be taken for controling smuggling of these weapons inside Indian territory?
  # Are we planning to carry out operations inside Pakistan where the terrorists’ headquarters are firmly believed to be located, if Pakistan cannot capture those responsible and as we have every right for pre-emptive action?
  # Whether we will take help of the Pakistan government and other countries in conducting such secret operations inside Pakistan to capture terrorists, as the United States is doing presently inside Pakistan if their weak system cannot achieve this?
• Sarnath wants to know:
  # How did the room service guys not find the bombs if it had been preserved somewhere within the Taj? Some room service guys are involved? Someone inside the Taj is definitely involved.
• King c wants to know:
  # One report said that a taxi laden with explosives was on its way to have a fidayeen attack on the Mumbai International Airport. But something went wrong and the taxi exploded at Vile Parle under the flyover itself. The question is - who was driving the taxi? How did they get hold of the taxi? Was there support from locals?
  # How can the terrorists fight for over 40 hours without any sleep?
  # The television visuals clearly showed Hemant Karkare wearing a helmet and a bullet-proof vest. How did he get hit in the chest?
  # How could the three top cops travel together in an operation? Shouldn’t they have been given back-up and cover?
  # It is said that there was a massive recruitment drives at the hotels a few months ago. It is suspected that a few of the terrorists’s aides might have infiltrated into the organisation of the hotel. Is this being investigated?
• Kunal wants to know: I just heard from a guy who escaped from the Taj on Aaj Tak. He said that he saw a lot of security personnel, but none of them questioned him when he escaped from the rear of the Taj. This means that the terrorists as well could don a normal citizen’s clothes and escape without any questions asked. I want to know what about Mumbai or rather Indian citizens’s security if even one among them gets lost in Mumbai’s crowds?
• J D Kamble/Sachin wants to know: Why were the helicopters not brought in at the earlier stage?
  # Why are the helicopters not provided with water tanks?
  # Why was tear gas not used to disable the terrorists? Why was morphine gas not used?
• Rohan wants to know:
  # All the security forces are searching for a ship. Is it possible that a submarine dropped off the terrorists?
• Mohit wants to know:
  # The terrorists used satellite phones to communicate. How come their satellite phones worked and could not be traced or jammed?
  # How can the government allow the television channels to broadcast live what is happening at the three locations? These might have watched by some of the terrorists’s agents around the country and helped communicate with the terrorists in the hotel who had satellite phones.
• Nilesh wants to know:
  # With a major naval headquarters in Mumbai, how come the marine commandos came into action only the subsequent morning?
  # Why is there no permanent base of NSG commandos in Mumbai? And why did they take 10 hours to get to Mumbai?
• Anirudh wants to know:
  # Why did the terrorists choose that late hour to begin their assault? Did they plan to attack CST and the hotels after peak hours, or were their plans held up in some way? Or did they choose that time to avoid even the small risk of being challenged by a policeman?
  # How can people carry huge rifles slung across their shoulders in the midst of a milling crowd? They are not like handguns which can be concealed under clothing and taken out when they need to be used. How come there was no panic just upon sighting people with rifles marching into a railway station or hotel lobby?
  # Did the Taj Mahal hotel officials have any sort of permission or authority from the Mumbai police before relaxing their security measures just days before the attack? If so, on what grounds was the permission granted? As a corollary, were the terrorists waiting for the measures to be relaxed before striking?
• Prashant wants to know:
  # I was once stopped by the Taj hotel staff for being in slippers (chappals). If you can be so alert to look down at chappals (for w/e reasons), how come the same security system blunders when the ammunitions were being stored in the room well in advance?
  # What could have been the motive of the taxi blast?
• Venkatesh wants to know:
  # The arms and ammunition being used by the terrorists - are they purchased inside India? Or sent from outside?
  # If the ammunition is purchased in India, why can’t the government regulate buying and selling such explosives and all chemicals used in the manufacturing of the explosives?
  # What was the hotel security doing when the terrorists barged into the hotel? Were the security personnel unarmed or just not equipped enough to face the attack? If this is the case, then is the security system in our country foolproof? Do we have enough protocols to face different kinds of threats?
  # The terrorists posses Indian rupees - used to pay for rent, and make purchases. How are they able to get Indian currency? Does the RBI keep track of all the Indian rupee notes going outside India?
• Mehul’s analysis and unanswered questions:
• The primary target seems to have been to capture the Taj and Oberoi hotels and take a bunch of hostages.
• The events at VT, Leopold’s, Metro etc were diversions to create panic and ensure the police were spread thin and could not respond quickly to calls from the 2 hotels.
• If the motive was to inflict maximum damage, the terrorists seem to have done very poorly with the resources they had in terms of time, ammunition and equipment. They had more than 600 people locked in the 2 hotels for more than 10 hours before the NSG got there…An AK-47 can fire 600 rounds per minute.
• From about 10:30 pm on 26th November to about 8 am on 27th November there was a complete standoff at both the hotels. There were a few guests who managed to get out at about 3 am from the Taj but there was no full scale assault by the Indian forces till the NSG got there at 8 am.
• What took place during that period of 10 hours is the key to understanding the motive of the terrorists.
• If the terrorists just wanted to kill everyone, they had ample opportunity to do so. They were obviously holding out for some kind of deal. Did the NSG spend those 10 hours negotiating a deal? Did they even make contact? I find it hard to believe that the NSG stormed the place and rescued almost every person taken hostage.
• The other worrying thing is..what prevented the terrorists (or some of them) from getting rid of their guns and just walking out of the hotel, pretending to be one of the hotel guests? Hundreds of people got out of the Taj at 3-4am. Were all of them questioned?
• The presence of American intelligence officials at the Taj that night adds another twist. There were also a group of EU officials present at the Taj for an Indo-EU summit. The terrorists had also captured group of Israelis at Nariman house. What happened to these groups? Who exactly were they? Were they the targets?
• The circumstances in which three top Mumbai policemen charged with investigating the underworld were shot is puzzling as well. Only a trained sharpshooter with inside information could have managed to do this. The fact that the sniper then got away in the police van adds further credence to the fact that he had help from the inside.
• Sridhar wants to know:
  # Is it clear at this point that most of the terrorists are Punjabi? Watching videos on India TV, I see them referring to incidents like Babri Masjid and Gujarat and also sporadic Hindi words like Neta, Shanti and parivar, but the accent is undeniably Punjabi. One terrorist also used the word ‘Rab’ interchangeably with Allah, and referred to ‘Waqt’ as ‘WAKAT’. What is more all their sound bytes were basic monologues, that they seem to have memorised. And in the Big Picture, looking at their clean cut faces, lithe physiques and smart logistical moves and mastery over weapons, what are the chances that these are not terrorists, but trained Pakistani commandos themselves?
• Deepti wants to know:
  # Why did the security personnel not think of using helicopters to air-drop personnel on the roof tops of the hotels at the beginning? It would have made operation more effective and speedy. They could have made a recce of the roof top in the early morning and could have planned air-dropping commandos on the roof top. Why was that option not considered?
• Vipin wants to know:
  # We all know that the operation took time because the commandos were searching each and every room at the hotels and had no idea in which room the terrorists were hiding. Is it technically not feasible to tell how many people are there across the room with the help of some penetrating laser light etc?
• Ahmed wants to know:
  # How could they have travelled 900 km to Indian territory in deeply guarded waters undetected?
• Viraj wants to know:
  # What was the RDX going to be used for? The police found 8 kgs of RDX behind Taj. Was this forgotten by the terrorists? Or was this a drop point for them to pick up later? The explosions inside the hotels were mainly grenades and plastic explosives.
  # There are differing reports on how the top decorated officers got shot. Were they in the same car as reported by the Mumbai Mirror? Or were they shot somewhere else?
  # When a machine gun is sprayed normally the cops would have got hit by one bullet. How did Hemant Karkare have 3 shots in his chest? There is still no explanation on why he would remove his bullet-proof vest when he had worn it on live television?
• Srikant wants to know:
  # Was any staff in the hotels on leave for the last few days? Any new employee joining the staff in recent days? This coordinated attack would not have been possible without the help of somebody from the hotel.
  # Why was there so much delay in getting the NSG unit from Pune?
  # Why was not anything done in terms of jamming the frequencies of the satellite phones? Satellite phones use a different frequency than normal mobile phones so a frequency jammer could have been installed in the hotel vicinity?
  # Why are we not getting the stats on the terrorists bodies?
  # Have the calls made from the hotels in the last week to places outside India been analysed?
• Gautam wants to know:
  # Why did the terrorists choose a Wednesday night to attacks these popular Western tourist hotels? A weekend might have caused greater damage. This leads me to believe that it might have been convenient for them to do it on the particular day. Maybe the ship they supposedly caught sailed accordingly. It is a possibility that there were groups that arrived by various means to Colaba.
  # How many were there in all? I read an eye-witness (a lady staying in the fishermen colony nearby) claiming that she saw 6 people getting out of a boat and walking towards the Taj/Trident. There were definitely more that 6. Since the TV cameras caught a few of them, it should be straightforward to get the exact count along with the help of survivors.
  # The TV crew managed to get photos of the terrorists standing in the window with guns. They appeared to look like nice targets for snipers. How come there were no snipers taking shots at them?
  # Were there any photographs of the terrorists taken by hostages on cell phone cameras?
• Satish wants to know:
  # From the TV footage, the commandos don’t seem to have the following equipment. It would be great to know what the government’s position is on equipping the personnel with the following hi-tech equipment: a. Night-vision goggles. These would have helped the commandos gain thermal imagery of the terrorists and their location in the night. B. Headsets with wireless communication: We normally see soldiers deployed in the Iraq / Afghanistan operations using these. C. Bullet-proof vests/ helmets. The vests the officers were wearing appeared to be very flimsy and not effective. What is the quality of these vests?
• Prakash wants to know:
  # 40 hours without sleep or rest?? You can’t do it even when you are just sitting. I can’t imagine in that intense situation. So were they using any medical stuff?? If so, can’t we know through post mortem what those medicines are and how and where the possibility of them coming from??
• Sunil wants to know:
  # Did the government appoint any one officer at the head of the operation to combat these attacks? It seems different group of security forces were working independently without any coordination and clear guidance?
• Sulekha wants to know:
  # The army claims it had sent a warning about a suspicious boat/ship, why wasn’t this followed up by the government? Why didn’t the army check with the government again to make sure it was followed upon?
  # Different passports have been found from the terrorists, what do they suggest?
  # Two cars were reported to have sped away with terrorists. Have the cars been found? Have the terrorists been captured? Have they been killed?
  # Considering the well planned attack that they have conducted and their eye for detail, isn’t it possible that the terrorists have eyes outside of the three locations they captured? What measures are being taken to find out who else could be part of the mission besides the terrorists who have been involved in activity in these three places?
• Ajay wants to know:
  # In one video, when the late Hemant Karkare was putting on his bullet-proof jacket, I noticed that one person was hiding his face from camera. As the camera moved, this guy moved along with the camera by covering his face. Who was that person?
• Rajeev wants to know:
  # I have a simple query to those who have put up CCTV. Is this footage meant to be seen after the event or monitored real-time?
• Kanna says:
  # Suppose A checks into TAJ on 1st Nov, (carries minimum stock). On 3rd Nov at 4 pm B checks in along with his stock. A moves his stock to B’s room and checks out at 5 pm. On 6th Nov C checks in at 7 pm. B’s stock along with A’s is moved to C. B checks out at 8 pm….. and so on till the D Day. A study of the check in and outs should also be studied.
• Siddharth notes:
  # It would be a good idea to review short sale positions on hotel scrips, specially Indian Hotels. Who had taken large short sale positions on Indian Hotels before 26/11? It could lead to some more clues.
• Satish notes:
  # While it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that there is adequate security for each citizen, it is surprising to see the amount of ammunition and equipment present in these hotels. Is it the responsibility of the hotel management to ensure adequate security, checks and balances and compliance with KYC norms? The management of these hotels is therefore equally answerable for the disaster of this magnitude.The management of these hotels should also provide adequate insurance cover as 5 star hotels charge premium rates from guests. If the management is unable to take care of its customers/premium guests, they have to be equally answerable instead of blaming only the government.Hotel managements’ inability to provide the complete details of its occupants shows the careless attitude of the staff and the failure of the hotel administration as the traffic of terrorists to hotels must be going on for months to plant operations of this size and magnitude. No effort should be spared to put in place a fully considered and partnered solution with joint investigations/thoughts of the management of these hotels and other establishments with the government.
• Moby wants to know:
  # The army said the terrorists keep shifting their positions from one floor to another, and from one room to another. Why was their transit area not checked and blocked initially? To go from one floor to another they would use a lift, stairs or laundry passage. To go from one room to another they have to pass through corridors. Why were all these not blocked and secured initially?
• Sirish wants to know:
  # If the terrorists are killed, why are the photographs not released? This would help intelligence agencies across the states and other countries to check their background.
• # Even if we agree that the terrorists landed a few days back and then planned this, did they carry all the ammunition, guns and goods from their hideouts to the hotel? Or was someone waiting for them at these points to hand it over to them? http://morris108.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/mumbai-indians-asking-more-questions-indian-web-site/