[Reader-list] Seven Questions about Mumbai

[Fatima फ़ातिमा]

Seven Questions
Neelabh Mishra

A colleague asked, 'So, what is your conspiracy theory about these
horrible happenings?' Conspiracy theory I have none, but I do have a
set of seven questions that have elicited no definitive answer in the
current chatter and intrigue me no end.

After various conjectures, speculations and angry or anguished advice
had eaten up miles of footage and reams of newsprint in the wake of
the nightmarish Mumbai carnage, a colleague still asked, 'So, what is
your conspiracy theory about these horrible happenings?' Conspiracy
theory I have none, but I do have a set of seven questions that have
elicited no definitive answer in the current chatter and intrigue me
no end. Here they are.

1. How many terrorists struck Mumbai on the fateful night of November
26? We are sure about minimum 10 as the security personnel managed to
slay nine in fierce encounters and capture one alive. But the police
claim to have found 15 sets of blankets and winter jackets on the
speedboat that witnessed the murder of its crew members and is
supposed to have been hijacked by the terrorists for transporting
themselves to Mumbai from Porbandar in Gujarat. Besides, News Channel
Aaj Tak telecast the interview of a supposedly rescued victim Sajan
Kapur, who claimed he was sent to the Taj hotel by ATS officer Vijay
Salaskar and had seen around 17 terrorists there and not just four as
claimed the security agencies. Will anyone explain these different
figures?

2. Coming to Sajan Kapur, a friend points out in a write up on the web
that this guy just vanished from the scene after the Aaj Tak telecast.
No other channel or newspaper pursued him nor did Aaj Tak follow up on
his claims. Why this blackout? Did he prove to be a phony witness who
gave a misleading account? If so, with what intent? Or was he whisked
away by the security agencies for investigation and they are keeping
it hush-hush?

3. Kapur's account on Aaj Tak was interesting. He claimed to have
overheard an exchange between two of the terrorists, who openly
flaunted their Pakistani links, in which one asked how much money
these Indian politicians had and the other replied what is that to do
with you as you have received your amount. Did Kapur imply that the
attackers were Pakistanis paid off by Indian politicians? With Kapur
vanishing from the scene, there is nobody to explain this part of his
story either or his credibility or motive.

4. Coming to the hijacked boat, the police account reported in the
media suggests a mystery in the nature of its ownership and control.
The legal owner Masani disclaims any knowledge about its actual
operations as he had handed over its control to his brother through a
power of attorney. The brother had in turn sublet it to somebody else
who hired other people to run it. What is this mystery of legal
ownership being at four removed from the people who operated the boat?
And what kind of operations was the boat usually involved in?

5. The boat's hijacking at Porbandar in Gujarat testifies to a local
support structure for the terrorists. Gujarat chief minister Narendra
Modi does not tire of continuously claiming to have generally rolled
up terrorist networks in his state. He has also been very vehement in
blaming the center and the Maharashtra government for the attackers
being able to reach Mumbai unhindered. He also claims to have warned
the Maharashtra government about the possibility of an attack on
Mumbai launched from the sea. How come the terrorists found themselves
bold enough to launch the attack from the coast of Gujarat, a state he
rules with an iron hand?

6. The question of the strange coincidence of Pakistani terrorists
finishing off the top leadership, including Hemant Karkare, of the ATS
involved in probing a supposedly Hindutva terrorist cell whose avowed
aim was to retaliate violently against Pakistan sponsored terrorism is
also intriguing and needs explanation.I am not suggesting that the
Hindutva extremists hired Pakistanis to do their hatchet job and in
the process gave them the bonus of additional carnage to satisfy their
murderous instincts but wondering about the circumstances of ATS
leadership being led into a position of extreme vulnerability to
terrorist fire.

7. And finally, how is it that whenever the Hindu rightist extreme
seems to be in dire straits as with the current Sadhvi-Purohit-Pandey
terror investigations, some violent action undertaken supposedly on
behalf of Muslims or Pakistan, as the case may be, comes to their aid
and also vice versa? For instance, recent Delhi blasts overshadowed
the violence against Christians by Hindutva extremists in Orissa,
burning of karsevaks on a train in Godhra and Akshardham attack
respectively helped Narendra Modi in elections. And Kargil had helped
both the BJP and Musharraf in their bid for power in their respective
countries. Who plays whom or is there another unseen puppeteer?

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