Mumbai terror attacks casulaties could have been minimized

INSPECTION TOUR: A file photo shows Maharashtra’s former Director General of Police (Police Welfare and Housing) Saradeep Singh Virk with his staff in Mumbai.


By: Shahid Raza Burney
Arab News

More than six months have passed since 11 terrorists held Mumbai hostage for over three days with a brazen terror strike in the heart of the city. Now, questions are being asked on the efficacy of the state government during those days.

With ice-cold determination, terrorists conducted 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across India’s financial capital and its largest city. Police and elite members of the National Security Guards (NSG) quelled the attack, but not before the cold-blooded murderers managed to take the lives 173 people and wounding another 308. It was not until Nov. 29 that the last of the sites, the Taj Mahal Hotel, was cleared and secured.

The lone surviving terrorist, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab, is now facing trial in Mumbai’s Special Court. But well before that, the terror strikes took their exacting costs politically with both the Congress Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) losing their posts by falling victim to public ire. The then Director General of Police Anami Narayan Roy has also been put on a compulsory waiting list since March 2009.

Could the battle with the terrorists have ended earlier and the casualties minimized? Some police officials say yes and put the blame squarely on the Maharashtra government.

Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers who spoke to Arab News agreed that the scenario could have been different had the state government not vacillated and then made a simple error in judgment.

They said that the state government failed to use the services of the then daredevil Director General of Police (Police Welfare and Housing) Saradeep Singh Virk, who had vast experience in combating terrorism during his tenure with the Punjab Police.

Virk, who has the distinction of serving two states, Punjab and Maharashtra, had been conferred the country’s prestigious Padma Shri award and two president’s medals for meritorious services. During Operation Black Thunder in 1988 in Punjab, Virk, then deputy inspector general of police (DIG) in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), had sustained a bullet injury to his jaw while combating terrorists in Amritsar’s Golden Temple.

Intelligence failure aside, the question being asked is this: Did the state government not feel that Virk was the man for the job at that moment?

A top-ranking additional director general of police, who did not wish to be named, agreed that the government’s failure to put Virk in charge could have contributed to the final toll being so high. He said that Virk’s experience in combating terrorists could have contributed to a more streamlined and efficient response from the police and could well have saved several lives.

The officials also term it inexplicable that Roy was let off the hook while the state chief minister and his deputy were forced to quit in the aftermath of the attack.

They ask why Roy was not sacked under the Article 311 of the Indian Constitution for negligence. Why did Roy sequester himself in his office during the attacks?

Internal politics at the highest levels among IPS officers was also a contributing factor. With political mentors behind them, some of the ranking officers pushed for power, and Virk — despite his capabilities — was shunted to the sidelines with limited and negligible responsibilities. The rivalries were so intense that Virk became enmeshed in a criminal case to tarnish his image; the court acquitted him within three months.

A demoralized Virk sought a transfer to Punjab, but there too he was caught in the middle of a political vendetta. He sought a transfer back to Maharashtra. Then the incomprehensible happened and, according to some police officials, the state government ignored Virk’s anti-terrorism experience.

Now, Virk has been vindicated.

“If you are not well-prepared then such attacks may happen again,” he said, pledging that he would use his 23 years of experience in combating terrorism to keep the state safe. The fallout of the attacks is still continuing with former Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Ghafour a recent victim.

The three-member Action Taken Report (ATR), prepared by senior bureaucrats, also took Roy to task for his failure to act quickly. He was also cited for being instrumental in the delay of summoning the elite NSG commandos from Delhi.

Virk said that several plans are being worked out to combat terrorism and ensure that it does not pop up again. The state police have set up a special force designed to take on terrorists. The Maharashtra police have also started training small groups of police units at district and precinct levels, besides preparing battalions to meeting all types of challenges from terrorists.

“We have completed the work of Phase One in that direction and we will cover Phase Two soon. We have taken an initiative in providing rigorous training to the force. We have even called police from other states to provide input and training.”

The training for the induction of Phase Two of Maharashtra’s first state commando unit, dubbed Force One, was inaugurated recently. Two hundred police personnel have been chosen for Force One after a tough selection process from 1,600 candidates.

During the function, Virk said the Maharashtra police have serious challenges ahead and that the commandos should be ready to face any kind of situation. He said police officers need to lead from the front during emergencies.

“We can’t be leaders in rooms and offices,” he said. “We can’t let our people down.”

That’s what the Maharashtra government lacked during the harrowing three days in November: a strong leader.