As Ennis mentioned in the earlier post, there isn’t much we, as American bloggers, can add to the story from Mumbai as it continues to unfold on the ground. The time for blogging about the specifics will come in the next few days as more facts emerge. I recommend forgetting the news channels with their endlessly repeating video loops and paid talking heads. The best place to follow what is happening in Mumbai is to visit the wiki page created to compile all information about these attacks. It is continually being updated and the references section is terrific. There is also a Google Map of the region that has been created with all the attack sites highlighted.
Twitter has also been a great way to get details about what’s going on. Try typing Oberoi for example. “Terrorists trapped” also results in a slew of Tweets.
USE THE COMMENTS TO POST INFORMATIONAL FACTS or WORDS OF SYMPATHY ONLY. RIGHT NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR RECRIMINATIONS.
Someone please confirm – is that Narendra Modi at the Oberoi?
Narendra Modi at the Oberoi. Blames Pakistan. OK, nothing much new.
But why is the CM of Gujarat giving a political speech in Mumbai about a Mumbai incident?
Why is he tying up security resources?
And why is he giving his speech at the Oberoi of all places?
jesus christ he’s in bombay? wtf, get all the politicians out! i’ve been watching cnn-ibn online and man this reporting has been god-awful.
how ? Life insurance is individual in nature. unless ifyou meant public liability – which i think is nonexistent in India.
Property insurance – yes but if they had been insured with AIG – good luck trying to get a claim settled.
Yeah, I felt like I was at the receiving end of Wag The Dog with Modi’s speech. Some other politicians have been wandering around the city spouting the usual political crap. Each of them is placing an extra load on the security people, but what was Narendra Modi thinking giving a damned political speech at the scene of an active unresolved crisis? And why is he there?
154 · melbourne desi said
My mistake, I was talking about property insurance and not life insurance.
153 · jackal said
Yes, it’s a circus, CNN-IBN was saying the same thing earlier this morning, and then some analyst made the point that the top police brass are political appointees and usually lack the spine to stand up to the politicians and ask them to stay out of the way.
Here is an interesting thread on this at IndiaMike.
Some sample responses:
“I will definitely be getting on that plane December 8th headed to New Delhi. Bombay wasn’t part of my itinerary, but maybe now it will be.”
“Cancelling? No way! We’re flying on to Mumbai on Tuesday 2nd December and spending 5 weeks in India.”
“I will only fly to Mumbai in March but will not cancel my plans for this bunch of losers.”
“i fly to delhi on 16th dec – be in india for 5 weeks – i wont be cancelling …. anything but – i want to go more now – show supoort and all …..”
Of course, IndiaMike is not representative of all tourists who go to India, but a large majority of people who go to India are not ordinary tourists. And Mumbai is no ordinary city.
I totally liked the “bunch of losers” reference, that’s exactly what terrorists are, cry babies who break up the home because no one is paying attention to them (for good reason).
FYI: Fox news (surprise!) has a live stream from NDTV. I’ve been watching on and off the whole day. One immediate observations: Barhka Dutt is the example of all that is wrong with the new Indian news media culture- apart from her absolute insensitivity to relatives waiting for news of people in the hotels and the general breathless jumping to conclusions, what is galling about NDTV is their blatant disregard of the secrecy of security operations. Dutt goes on and on about how these operations are highly sensitive and then continues to disclose information that is obviously sensitive. I’ve really been appalled at the coverage of the whole horrific event.
Thank goodness for mentioning Barkha Dutt. I cannot believe how she badgered anxious relatives – husbands and wives, waiting for news of their loved ones trapped inside the Taj. In one case, there was a woman who could obviously barely speak, and still she kept asking her how she felt. Another interview with a Times of India financial reporter was especially heartbreaking. His wife had been texting him, but he hadn’t heard from her since 2 am IST (~30 or so hours ago), and apparently she was staying in a section of the Taj that exploded. He has 2 young sons, and it was clear that he didn’t want to accept what might be, but was occasionally lapsing into the past tense when talking about her. And she still went on talking to him, offering hollow commiserations.
This is a top reporter?
155 · pingpong said
Can think of a couple of reasons. 1> Modi has been the only leader with credibility in taking actions against terrorists, because of the response to the recent bomb blasts.
2> People will be out for blood pretty soon, as you found out when you called your parents. A lot of people, and not just the crowd SM loves to hate, are contemplating some rather nasty things to the denizens of Bhendi Bazaar, Byculla, Mohmd Ali road, etc. The words of MMS, Shivraj Patil, and their ilk have as much credibility as Mir Jaffer, or Sharad Pawar circa 1992/93. For good or for bad, Naren Modi telling them that it was not the usual suspects helps keep a lid on things.
3> Incredible as it seems, in light of the blatant evidence, such as the interview with the terrorist, right now there is a snowjob to hide Pak involvement in this attack in various media sources. Usually, the govenrment makes some vague statements, so people soon forget about it and the security resouces are diverted to help seccure vote banks (like we saw with 90% of the Anti-terrorism squad). Someone has to set the record straight, so that this is not forgotten. MMS unfortunately has been doing what he usually does. Naren Modi’s straight talk helps keep people focussed, if not nothing, India can at least negotiate from a position of strength when Obama’s team asks India to make further concessions on Kashmir down the road.
Narendra Modi is doing this so he can rustle up people who are in terror, position himself as a PM candidate when the BJP is elected next year, and push in measures that make POTA look like the magna carta.
Rahul:
She’s always been the Geraldo Rivera of India – pushy, slimy and thoroughly unprincipled, except that the Indian media being far less mature and sophisticated than US media, nobody in India realizes that’s a Bad Thing. She hampered the Indian military’s efforts no end during the Kargil conflict by always giving away their position, and her hysterical running around during the IC 814 hijack to Kandahar was less suited for a reporter than for a rabid wild animal with hemorrhoids.
If there is another terror attack in India, I hope the terrorists have the common courtesy to garotte Barkha Dutt first with piano wire.
160 · Rahul said
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blockquote>Thank goodness for mentioning Barkha Dutt. I cannot believe how she badgered anxious relatives – husbands and wives, waiting for news of their loved ones trapped inside the Taj. In one case, there was a woman who could obviously barely speak, and still she kept asking her how she felt. Another interview with a Times of India financial reporter was especially heartbreaking. His wife had been texting him, but he hadn’t heard from her since 2 am IST (~30 or so hours ago), and apparently she was staying in a section of the Taj that exploded. He has 2 young sons, and it was clear that he didn’t want to accept what might be, but was occasionally lapsing into the past tense when talking about her. And she still went on talking to him, offering hollow commiserations.
Amen. I saw the interview with the poor lady. How low can you sink to ask a woman whose husband is trapped somewhere in a faux-friendly manner “so now all your fights are forgotten right?” I wish the woman had slapped Dutt but she was too shocked to do anything. In general the high-pitched, excited, hysterical tone of the coverage has been nauseating…
Wonderful, could someone text that to her please? 🙂
There were multiple instances on NDTV where I heard a reporter mention that the security forces had asked them not to reveal information about their movements, and then pan to photographs of commandos entering the Taj or preparing to assault Nariman House. Apparently, the army has requested again that the media stop its broadcasts because the Taj situation just won’t be tamped down, with terrorists using media information to plan their movements.
I’ve been using Rediff to get my updates all day, because I couldn’t take Barkha Dutt on NDTV, or the inane talking heads on CNN-IBN.
DizzyDesi, I have no complaint with Modi as far as his economic management skills go – in fact they seem to be his strongest suit and all my Gujarati friends try to balance that with his mistakes. That said, Modi has a track record of insensitivity towards minorities, a mishandled Godhra, and his latest giving-a-speech-while-the-Taj-burns gimmick does not improve his standing.
Think about it from a purely pragmatic perspective – consider a foreigner holed up in the Oberoi, a potential investor in India. When he or she finds out that a political clown has been making fix-the-blame speeches right outside the hotel even before the hostages were released, is he or she likely to think well of Modi or invest in his state? Does that not seem counterproductive even to his own plan? From a purely political perspective, his best chances of getting to be PM are to showcase his economy and tone down his rhetoric to come across as someone not so Dick Cheney-like in warmth. Why is he making himself less of a crossover candidate?
In any case, I was not questioning the content of his speech, all of which was the same expected stuff. I was questioning its timing and location – it seems a particularly unsavvy move for a right-wing politician to be perceived as someone who interferes with the military.
Rahul, Modi has long been painted as the next BJP candidate for PM, even before Pramod Mahajan died. He didn’t need to give the speech he did today. However, I am not convinced that he could remain a hardline Hindu conservative if he were to be elected PM.
167 · pingpong said
It certainly wouldn’t hurt his chances to “show leadership” at a time like this.
Just realized a little too late and too sleepily that my previous comment is going to threadjack the topic towards Modi. I will therefore not talk about Modi on this thread any more. Apologies to SM Intern, and please feel free to delete my comment #167 if you feel it’s not appropriate for this thread.
Sad but true. Dileep Sardesai the Executive Super-Duper-Editor-Anchor and his bonehead spouse Sagarika Ghosh on CNN-IBN make sure that whatever little respectability the ‘CNN’ prefix may grant them is quickly diminished. There are reports of another casualty amongst law enforcementpeople; I heard that a NSG Major was killed. This is so maddening.
Now a IAF Wing Commander is describing the who flew the chopper from which NSG commondos absailed on the Nariman Pt. building. He naming the names – of the personnel involved in this operation.
Narendra is spouting venom – full fledged speech, some say he has announced 1 Crore Rupees for the next of the kin of dead. Modi’s action has smoked ‘Vilas Rao Deshmukh ‘ (Maharashtra Chief Minister) out of his hole, and now he is sounding inanities. Indian media folks are squabbling so Deshmukh has to shout over the din. Deshmukh says there are no hostages as people have locked themselves in their rooms. No hostages so no need for negotiations – simple yeah?
Wow, Google makes the Modi-Deshmukh circus look classy.
170 · Sulabh said
Seems like the Indian governments strategy is: We shall fight them here so that we dont have to fight them there.
I must say, this very peculiar Indian phenomenon of announcing monetary compensation in the immediate response to any tragedy always struck me as unseemly and, well, an act of buying off families of (often poor) victims. It’s certainly a relevant aspect of a response to an emergency and loss of life but still, does it need to be brought up AS THE SITUATION IS STILL UNFOLDING? Lack of subtlety, thy name is the effin’ indian politician.
New shootings reported at CST, and the area has been cordoned off. This is far from over.
I am going to go vote for the first time in my time tomorrow… I thought I knew, now I don’t. I just don’t…
When will it end…
Jo, I can’t find this picture on the Reuters site– could you please post a link?
I am 30 minutes away from the scene of the attacks. Yep, newer incidents of firing at Marine Lines and CST terminal 8 in South Bombay. The locales I mention here are some of the busiest in the city. According to what I’ve heard from people in that area is that a white car car is on the move in the city and firing shots indiscrimantely at random civilians. At this point in time the final assault by the NSG is in progress at the three key locations – HotelTaj and Strident as well as Nariman House. Press was addressed by the Marcos(marine commanders) and apparently the terrorists were carrying about $1200 and 6000 INR as well as well as loaded magazines that could fire up to 400 rounds. There have been approximately 10 grenade attacks at Nariman House in the last hour or so. This may be getting worse than expected. South Bombay is cordoned at this point in time. Shopkeepers have been asked to pull the shutters down asap.
Apparently, the reports of firings at CST were just rumors. Confusion reigns supreme.
Grammatical and/or syntactical errors regretted. In a state of panic and confusion.
I doubt that. I have a friend trapped in that area who has been adviced by the cops to stay in because there has been atleast one instance of firing in the Marine Lines area.
Friends at CST, South Bombay say: the new information of firing was in fact a blunder by a constable whose gun accidentally went off. Also, the gun shots at CST/VT weren’t exactly that, just the disloding of a metal detector that created the noise. Wheww!
I cannot imagine what the families of these victims must be going to. I pray for them and those still looking for their loved ones.
I’ve been following this watching ndtv online, and I’m wondering if barkha dutt is human in any way. She’s more interested in feedback from families from the victims even when they are visibly distraught and in giving away Indian military positions than anything else. I think the military should take her in during hte next operation, hell let her walk in first giving her a good vantage point and ideal positioning to ask the terrorists and hostages on how they’re doing/feeling.
What are you talking about?? It’s called discussing what’s happening. Unless you just want us all to blindly accept whatever the government is doing all the time.
94-100: ??? some guy is asking “why”. there is some chaos, the reporter doesn’t like that she has to answer him. there is some crowd scuffle and ppl are thrown off balance—i was scared there would be a stampede or such. but assault/almost rape?? did i watch the same video?
I completely agree with the overall views on Barkha Dutt. In addition to being annoying, she is shamelessly attention hungry. There have been numerous instances when she is just forcing the coverage to focus on her while something far more important was going on elsewhere. In one case she hogs the camera for an endless period showing how the reporters surrounding her are sitting down and how there were fire trucks parked. Urgghh..
Although I am usually not one to blame Pakistan for India’s problems, I think it is becoming increasingly clear that ISI has orchestrated the Mumbai attacks and possibly the other ten attacks in the last 6 months. Here’s an excerpt from a post I just wrote about it.
“As the siege on lower Mumbai stretches into its third day it has become clear that that attacks were not orchestrated by an unknown terrorist, but that they had been planned, financed and carried out by the Pakistani Intelligence agency known as ISI. It is still unclear if the intelligence agency acted alone or if high level members of Pakistan’s government had signed off on the operation. However, if the Pakistani government does immediate action against its rogue agency this assault could be considered an act of war.”
More here: http://www.scottcarneyonline.com/blog/
143 · Sulabh said
You bet. The pathetic bit is that this is now on show to the whole world as well. Only the well known names like Barkha Dutt seem to understand journalism. the 20-something kids have no idea.
159 · D-Light said
Even though I think Barkha is better than the rest (at least she understands journalism, even if she doesn’t know how to deliver it), she does annoy me because she tends to shout into the microphone (and at least she is ‘more eloquent’ than other journos). Don’t they realise that the days when we had to shout over long distance phone calls are long gone?
Still, I think its not Barkha that is the bane of Indian TV journalism, its the young kids who aspire to be like her.
Sreenavasan Jain seems to be the best of the lot
Unfortunately, the compensation package is demanded right after the incident. (not by the raltive, but by the media) Here are some of the jackals going after Ratan Tata. You gotta see this to believe it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPdxvobHV4
The anouncement of a generous (by indian standards) package, should at least give a measure of security to surviors of the victims and bring clsure at least on one front. Here are some of the jackals going after Ratan Tata. You gotta see this to believe it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPdxvobHV4
I was reffering to his track record against terrorism, not economic skills. Specifically to the recent Ahmedabad blasts. Police response descibed in rediff here
If I were someone trapped in Oberoi Modi would be pretty low down on my list. The media would be near the top. The circus these Jackals are creating is repulsive. I for one prefer that they cover Modi, rather than tell the terrorists exactly where the security forces are coming from, or where the survivors are hiding. The media has blood on its hands in this one.
To be honest I had to think hard about posting this link. If the moderators feel it is not suitable they can remove it. Everyone should be aware that you may be upset by this picture.
http://select.daylife.com/photo/0dyFaSWetce7Q
……………………..”In answer to your question, you may remember a little massacre of Muslims a few years ago, orchestrated and encouraged by the same Indian authorities who are now making such a poor response to this crisis, called the Gujarat riots… perhaps you should start there in your search for “why Muslims are involved”
This is the chicken or the egg situation, isnt it? Going with your logic, how about starting with the Akshardham incident or the 1970s ethnic cleansing by Pak general Zia ul haq?
Can someone muzzle Barkha, she doesn’t have a filter. She is speaking to Shantanu saikia and her questions can’t be more insensitive. Unbelievable.
All of you railing on against Barkha Dutt, please do tell me who is your model reporter reporting “live”, Bill O Reilly? Anderson Cooper? or maybe you would prefer Nancy Grace. I see one comment here talking about Barkha giving positions away in Kargil. Seriously, get a life. They delayed the commandos on the rooftop by an hour, IBN said that they were delaying the broadcast after request by the military, and NDTV may not have said that(I dont remember) but all TV channels started showing them at the same time. It is not like Burkha is a secret plant by the terrorists to give away positions. And to remind you “all” reporters do ask invasive questions.
I just got back from Mumbai. I was there with my kids. Made it a point to take them to South Bombay where I grew up and still have many friends. We fed the pigeons at Gateway (my kids are 5 and 7 and enjoy these simple things) and then went to Taj. I get chills thinking that while we sat in the lobby, admiring the fountain, taking a breather from the heat outside, the terrorists were working out the final details of their attack. While I drove around Colaba, nostalgic over my school days, the terrorists were already there, biding their time. It leaves me numb.
I’m probably one of the handful of people in all of India without a television, so instead of live coverage, I’ve been reading a variety of sources online (my connection’s too slow to handle streaming video). I have to say, the Twitter thing has really not impressed me. Maybe I got a snippet or two of interesting information, perhaps a new link I had not heard of which turned out to be useful–but little else. It was repetitive, unsubstantiated, and half the time tweeters were boasting about how great Twitter is compared to the MSM. That might be true eventually with some changes, but I would choose CNN or NDTV–even Fox– over Twitter at this point. I prefer the blogs and newsbloggers who have live updates from the scene, and who could provide some analysis of the larger picture alongside the factual reporting; sure the MSM were slow on the live-online thing, but they’re catching up: Lede Blog on NYT has had gripping coverage of the Nariman siege, for instance. The SAJA blog and radio webcasts have been excellent. Reuters seems pretty fast with breaking news.
My point is, the “hive” is still a bit too unfiltered for my liking. Perhaps that is just because I have not yet shifted my mindset to the new mode. But the bottom line is, I want dense, factual, reliable reporting and analysis, and I don’t see how the twitter model can provide that–not yet, at least. If I want rumor and chat, I’ll head downstairs to chat with my neighbors.
The Republic of India is alleging that British-born Pakistanis are among the terrorist perpetrators. Regardig the media. I am very glad that there are multiple news chanels in the country, and that western media outlets are no longer capable of shaping the global news narrative. The NYTimes covered a Jewish Rabbi on its front page this morning, while ignoring the personal stories of 200,000 Indians in the city who have relatives in India. And the western media’s best practices leave a LOT to be desired for, so I wouldn’t be too hard on the Indians.
Is it true the Indian forces didn’t even have a layout of the Taj and Oberoi when they stormed those hotels? Really pathetic. It’s one thing not to prevent it, but it is beyond pathetic when you do not even have a response plan. ALso I read reports about pitiful Mumbai police looking scared. You would think they would be used to dealing with attacks by now.
Vic @ 197, did you have a “fact” or “word of sympathy” in your comment? If not, then kindly exercise some human decency and refrain from your specious insinuations, or, alternately, find a blog post that wants to hear your kind of speculation.
Sickening.