Exactly fifteen years are about to be completed back is a night that New York City will hardly ever forget as it woke up with a nightmare that is still remembered today. The tragic 26/11 Mumbai attacks left an indelible mark on India and will forever haunt the nation. Today, as we look back at that dark chapter, we’re left with both a sense of resilience and a nagging question: What could have been done to stop such an incident from reoccurring?
Imagine this: November 26, 2008. It was an outwardly ordinary evening in bustling Mumbai where business flourishes and beauty never dies Gateway of India. Terror was looming, and few knew it. The ten armed terrorists crossed boarded with their assault riffles and grenade. They intended to cause confusion and fear in the city.
In the following 60 hours, which were witnessed by the entire world, these events cannot be erased from our common memory. Horror and resilience took on new meanings such as the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, Leblanc café, and Nariman house. Courageous cops, hotelier’s, and even ordinary people just could not help themselves but fight with their last strength and love for their town.
After those terrible days, we saw what makes Mumbai proud. The city would not back down. It got up from the ruins, re-gathered its strength, and continued. However, today, we should also question ourselves about hard issues.
Did we learn anything from that experience? Given this, how much are we doing to prevent a similar event to occur in future? Does this make our country safer or secure for its people?
Certainly, our intelligence agencies and the security forces have progressively become better at what they do, but one gets an uneasy feel that complacency might just be beginning on the downward trail again. We still have to contend with the same problems we had then like weak relations between our security bodies and loose boundaries.
Did we learn anything from 26/11 Mumbai Attack? Are we providing adequate resources for the training and equipping our security forces? Is it what we are doing enough for the purpose of making our intelligence services preventive and not simply responsive? Are we addressing the roots of extremists’ social and political problems?
The memories of 26/11 Mumbai Attack continue to hurt in the hearts of the survivors, relatives of those who died and the whole state. This day is not just a reminder of the past, but it is an opportunity to see where we are today and mold our future path.
Now, as a journalist, we have been once again reminded of our task to ask these questions, hold people accountable, so that the price of blood paid by many on November 26 was not wasted. Therefore, we owe those who died for a stronger, safer and more resilient society in India. It is a task that we all should be able to agree on and remember forever.
