Not just about terrorists

From THE ECONOMIST

Dec 11th 2008 | DELHI

India's state elections

Voters deliver a setback to Hindu nationalists

EVEN as the bullets flew in Mumbai late last month, India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempted to extract maximum advantage from the attack by Islamist terrorists. In Mumbai and Delhi it took out front-page newspaper advertisements which depicted a blood-spattered surface and the words: “Brutal terror strikes at will. Weak government unwilling and incapable to fight terror…Vote for the BJP.”

In the end, in four Indian states that held polls after the terrorist attacks, with results released on December 8th, the ghoulish strategy of the Hindu nationalists did not work. The Congress party, which leads India’s national coalition, won three of the elections. Most pleasing for Congress, it held on to power in Delhi for a remarkable third consecutive term. It also won Rajasthan, a big northern state, from the BJP; and swept the field in Mizoram, a tiddler in the north-east. more

India’s ‘slowdown’ may be the world’s envy

HINDUSTAN TIMES

New Delhi, December 11, 2008

By SANDEEP SINGH

The world economy may be slowing down to less than 2.5 per cent, but in relative terms the “slowdown” in India would be something the world would envy. Overnight, India has become the second-most powerful engine of global growth, after China.

Even after moderating their GDP growth projections, estimates by economists show that the Indian economy could grow by between 6.3 per cent and 8 per cent, with World Bank and foreign investment banking firms being the pessimists and Indian research organisations and International Monetary Fund the optimists.India’s economic growth may fall short of Reserve Bank of India’s 7.5-8 per cent forecast. “All indications are that it (GDP forecast) may be revised downwards,” RBI governor D. Subbarao said on Wednesday. He warned 2009-10 could be more painful.

With global trade expected to contract in 2009, the World Bank on Wednesday, in a report titled ‘Global Economic Prospects’, projected that the Indian economy would grow at 5.8 per cent in 2009, down from 6.3 per cent estimated for 2008.It, however, raised the estimate for 2010 to 7.7 per cent. more

Il cuoco eroe: «Non lascio l'India»

CORRIERE DELLA SERA

Pubblicato: 7 dicembre 2008
Dall'inviato Lorenzo Cremonesi

INTERVISTA A EMANUELE LATTANZI -«Tutto quello che desidero è dimenticare questo incubo, che ancora mi tiene sveglio la notte»

MUMBAI - Non se ne va Emanuele Lattanzi. Non lascia l’India, né l’Oberoi e tanto meno Mumbai. Non lascia neppure la sua stanza al primo piano. «Tutto quello che desidero è dimenticare questo incubo, che ancora mi tiene sveglio la notte. Ma qui rimango, qui è il mio lavoro e mia moglie, Lea Cavina, è d’accordo con me». Per l’Italia, l’India e tutto il mondo lui è “il cuoco-eroe”. Il padre della piccola Clarice, che ha atteso quasi tre giorni fuori dagli hotel sotto assedio primi di poter entrare scortato dagli agenti delle squadre speciali indiane, portare due biberon pieni di latte alla figlia e poi scappare fuori con loro, mentre ancora ai pieni alti si stavano sparando gli ultimi colpi. more

Lack of Preparedness Comes Brutally to Light

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times - People marched Wednesday in Mumbai, India, to demand better security.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

By ROBERT F. WORTH

Published: December 3, 2008

MUMBAI — In the wake of last week’s devastating terrorist attacks here, one thing has become clear: India’s security forces are so spectacularly unprepared, its intelligence agencies so riven by conflict and miscommunication, that it lacks the ability to respond adequately to such attacks, much less prevent them.
This nation of 1.2 billion has only a few hundred counterterrorism officials in its intelligence bureau. Its tiny, ill-paid police force has little training, few weapons and even less ammunition. The coast guard has fewer than 100 working boats for a shoreline nearly 5,000 miles long. more

Mumbai Attack Is Test of Pakistan’s Ability to Curb Militants

THE NEW YOR TIMES

By JANE PERLEZ and SONIMI SENGUPTA

Published: December 3, 2008

LAHORE — Mounting evidence of links between the Mumbai terrorist attacks and a Pakistani militant group is posing the stiffest test so far of Pakistan’s new government, raising questions whether it can — or wants to — rein in militancy here. President Asif Ali Zardari says his government has no concrete evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attacks, and American officials have not established a direct link to the government. But as Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice landed in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Thursday morning, pressure was building on the government to confront the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which Indian and American officials say carried out the Mumbai attacks. more

Zardari: «I ricercati di Nuova Delhi? Se sono colpevoli li processiamo noi»

CORRIERE DELLA SERA
Pubblicato 3 dic 2008

Il presidente pakistano: «L'India ci dia le prove del loro coinvolgimento, poi ci penseranno i nostri tribunali»

NUOVA DELHI - Il Pakistan non consegnerà all'India nessun terrorista ricercato, se Nuova Delhi non fornirà prove della loro colpevolezza. Lo ha riferito la televisione indiana riprendendo una intervista del presidente pakistano Asif Ali Zardari negli Stati Uniti.Parlando al Larry King Show, Zardari aveva precisato che i terroristi di Mumbai sono apolidi e aveva detto che se ci dovessero essere prove nei confronti di pachistani coinvolti in atti terroristici o di terroristi che si trovano sul suolo pachistano, «in questo caso noi li porteremo nei nostri tribunali, li processeremo e li condanneremo nel nostro Paese». Zardari inoltre ha detto che non ci sono evidenze che l'unico terrorista sopravvissuto e arrestato negli attacchi di Mumbai, Azam Amir Kasav, sia pachistano. L'uomo, subito dopo essere stato arrestato dalle forze di sicurezza indiane, ha detto di essere pachistano. Zardari ha però ribadito l'offerta di collaborare con l'India alle indagini. more

Pakistani bloggers counter anti-India rhetoric

INDIAN EXPRESS

Posted: Dec 03, 2008

Islamabad. With anti-India talk shows being beamed regularly on Pakistani channels, anti-India blogs clocking hits in cyberspace and open letters to Indians getting several columns in newspapers, a newly formed Pakistani web group to condemn the Mumbai attacks has come as a breath of fresh air.

"All Pakistanis condemn Mumbai attacks," a group on social networking website Facebook, has already registered 1,803 members from across the globe to counter an earlier group called "India stop blaming Pakistan for terror in India", which at last count had 952 members. more

Salute Mumbai heroes by fixing the rotting system

Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, London

By D.S. SOMAN
Published 4 December 2008

Dec. 3: Hemant Karkare and other policemen who died as a result of the bullets fired at them were victims of the apathy of the government, both at the Centre and state. Terrorism is nothing new to India. Indeed, we have been facing terrorist attacks since the 1990s. The most striking attack was on March 12, 1993 when 12 bombs went off in Mumbai, shaking its very foundations. Since then there have been many attacks by terrorists from across the border - in Delhi, on Parliament, temples and vital establishments in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Surat.

Our reaction to all these attacks was to condemn them and point the finger at our enemy across the border. In general, the public were told that security is being stepped up and intelligence improved. On ground, the public hardly felt or saw any difference in the situation. The governments, both at the Centre and the states, meanwhile, continued in their laidback style. Politics took precedence over everything else and it hardly crossed their minds that something basic needs to be done to tackle the menace. Terrorist acts were treated as a law and order problem which the state concerned was expected to deal with. more

Response to terror will decide India's economic future

THE ECONOMIC TIMES - BusinessWeek


By JACH and SUZY WELCH
Published 3 Dec 2008

Of the 200-odd past columns posted on our Web site, few elicit more comments than "Who Will Rule the 21st Century?"—a piece we wrote in 2007 that predicted continued US economic leadership, with India and China coming into parity in a matter of decades. As for which country would offer better chances for investors, we essentially took a pass, saying that the answer hinged on how well India and China capitalized on their huge advantages and handled their complex challenges.
Since that column appeared, a week hasn't gone by without at least a dozen questions continuing to press the matter. Readers often ask where foreign direct investors should place their bets: China, India, or if both, in what measure? Usually, we just set these questions aside. There wasn't much more, we reasoned, that we could say.

Sadly, with the terrorist attacks in Mumbai this week, there now is. more

Analysts Say It Will Be Difficult to Shield Luxury Hotels From Terrorist Attacks

By KEITH BRADSHER

Published: November 30, 2008

MUMBAI, India — For decades, luxury hotels have been oases for travelers in developing countries, places to mingle with the local elite, enjoy a lavish meal or a dip in the pool and sleep in a clean, safe room.
But last week’s lethal attacks on two of India’s most famous hotels — coming just two months after a huge truck bomb devastated the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan — have underlined the extent to which these hotels are becoming magnets for terrorists. Worse, hotel executives and security experts say that little can be done to stop extensively trained gunmen with military assault rifles and grenades who launch attacks like the ones that left this city’s Oberoi and Taj Mahal Palace & Tower strewn with bodies. more

For Heroes of Mumbai, Terror Was a Call to Action

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published: December 1, 2008

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times -Vishnu Datta Ram Zende working Monday at a Mumbai railroad station where he saved lives last Wednesday.

MUMBAI, India — On any ordinary day, Vishnu Datta Ram Zende used the public-address system at Mumbai’s largest railway station to direct busy hordes of travelers to their trains.

But last Wednesday just before 10 p.m., when he heard a loud explosion and saw people running across the platform, he gripped his microphone and calmly directed a panicked crowd toward the safest exit. The station, Victoria Terminus, it turned out, was suddenly under attack, the beginning of a three-day siege by a handful of young, heavily armed gunmen. more

MUMBAI: The aftermath is even more terrifying

Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications

by RASHEEDA BHAGAT
Published Dec 02, 2008

---

The sheer magnitude and scale of the terror strikes in Mumbai have triggered outrage from ordinary people on a scale not witnessed before. For the first time the people have strongly condemned the games politicians play and asserted that they will no longer be fooled by their antics.

---

One of the many rallies in protest against the Mumbai attacks, which have evoked levels of public anger and outrage not seen before.

Even as we, the citizens of India, resolve never to forget the bloody and petrifying 59-hour siege on Mumbai and take a pledge to compel those responsible for our security — not only politicians but also our intelligence agencies and others who have been lax in guarding our borders, such as the Coast Guard, and probably even the Indian Navy — what is going to be much more important is our response to the post-Mumbai events. more

I terroristi in India hanno usato Google Earth

01/12/2008

Addestrati all'uso di telefoni satellitari e sistemi Gps

Polemiche all’indomani degli attacchi terroristici di Bombay in India per la notizia che i terroristi hanno pianificato l’azione servendosi di mappe digitali ottenute grazie a Google Earth.

Dall’inchiesta dalla polizia indiana, che ha anche potuto interrogare un terrorista arrestato, emerge che gli attentatori erano altamente addestrati e muniti di tecnologia evoluta, da telefoni satellitari a sistemi satellitari di posizionamento (Gps).

Google Earth era stato criticato in India già nel 2005 per bocca dell’allora presidente A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, che durante una conferenza aveva prospettato l’abuso delle mappe digitali nell’ambito di azioni terroristiche.

Anche altre nazioni, tra cui la Cina, hanno lamentato l’esposizione su Google Earth di installazioni strategiche e militari.

I difensori del software di Google ribattono che le installazioni attaccate in questi giorni assommano a due alberghi, un ristorante, un complesso residenziale e una stazione ferroviaria: niente a che vedere con segreti militari o installazioni strategiche e fabbricati ampiamente segnalati e rintracciabili su qualsiasi guida turistica.