Remember this day...

...when we as a nation was shamed by a bunch of mindless drones. Same time last year, all of us were glued with horror to our television sets watching the reality show with the highest stakes ever: human lives and dignity of a nation. How different is our country after that gruesome incident? How protected are we from future attacks? Before we launch into a tirade on the ineffectiveness of our Government, read this informative article by Nita. We can without any doubt say that the level of preparedness is higher than what it used to be. But will this prevent future attacks?
Where there is a will there is a way. Its the innate human nature to resist against the defenses and find chinks in them. With a certain amount of preparation and lot of money, terrorists can stage such an attack anywhere in India. I doubt that even Mumbai could be an exception with all its alertness. This is in no way degrading our intelligence wings. Unknown to us, they may be thwarting several plots as we speak. Most of such counter terrorist operations remain classified due to several reasons according to insiders.
All the measures listed in Nita's blog is a step in the right direction. But if you look closely, these are steps taken for counter an attack from the terrorists. If a terror attack happens again, there could still be loss of life and property. May be the damage could be limited. What we should ideally do is strengthen our domestic intelligence and foreign intelligence agencies, namely IB (along with the state level intelligence agencies) and RAW.
Strong intel network can go a long way in mitigating the risk of an attack. It will enable us to nip such attacks at the planning stage itself. Terrorist activities involve a lot of money and lot of time. If we can successfully cut of the money supply to sleeper cells and eliminate the planners, we will go a long way in avoiding the attacks altogether.
Alas, things are not looking rosy at all on this front. I was shocked and filled with dread when I read the Indian Express series: The Rot inside RAW. If the five part series is more of fact than fiction, we can only pray for a divine intervention to stem the attacks. The series lambasts the National Security Adviser M.K.Narayanan for nepotism in appointing the top ranking officials in RAW, among a lot of other things. A more serious allegation is made against the expectant RAW chief A.B.Mathur of being a suspected double agent.
The series was the most depressing news item I read in a long time, especially in the backdrop of 26/11 attacks. Why can't our beloved leaders be a little more pragmatic when it comes to the more important functions of a nation like Intelligence? If RAW is in such shambles, we cannot hope that all is well with IB and other domestic intelligence agencies. Lets hope that the report is wrong. If it isn't lets hope our leaders mend their way. If not, there will always be remembering the attacks with no respite to forget them.
Read the five part series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.