Mumbai blasts: No time for hype

Mumbai blasts. Wednesday, July 13. Time 6.50-7.00 pm. Within ten minutes three densely populated areas of the city were targeted. (There is some information that the timeframe was longer, contradicting reports.) This was coordinated despite the places being not in close proximity - Zaveri Bazaar, Dadar Kabutarkhana and Opera House. 21 people have died and 113 injured according to the last reports.

Gruesome pictures are being posted. Will it solve the case or just add spice to the tragedy?

Worse, politicians, the media and public had open access to the areas and were walking around them. The police had not placed barricades in time and crucial evidence could be lost.

A few points:

1. Why are political groups and people demanding to know who is behind it when the chief minister and home minister have already announced it is a terrorist attack?

2. Why are some people connecting it with the November 2008 attacks?

3. Why is it that each time there is a terrorist attack in India people are asked to maintain communal harmony? Can we not make a bloody difference between the two aspects?

4. News channels have emphasised that the areas were mainly populated by Gujarati businessmen. Dadar is not. And there are others working in these places. Unless there is information that the idea was to target Gujarati businessmen, such information is counterproductive. Does it not negate the call for harmony?

5. How important is it for celebrities to be quoted barely a couple of hours later condemning the attack?

6. The helpline numbers and blood donations should be used only by those and for those in need. Choking hospitals won't help.

7. Why are some people smirking over how there will now be conspiracy theories? The fact is that such acts are conspiracies.

The 'spy' who loved Saudis

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a plan!

I think the Saudis have a point. That vulture that strayed into their territory could well have been a “Zionist plot” set up by Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad.

It is possible that the Saudis thought it was a plane. The bird has a wing span of 8ftx8in, and if people can see UFOs, why can they not imagine spying? Besides, our pigeons can carry information, so vultures are known to be far more ambitious.

It carried a tag of Tel Aviv University. This was an educated bird, see? It was either a sophomore sent on training or one with a seasoned doctorate, perhaps even a professor. These Mossadis are known to be quite academic. But it ventured into the ‘No Fly Zone’, so its intentions may well have been deliberated.

It carried a GPS transmitter. The Israelis say they were monitoring migration patterns of the rare bird. Aha, now Wiki (pedia, not Leaks) says that the Griffin Vulture belongs to the old school and its population is mostly resident. So, what migration is possible?

It was found in the rural area when it was arrested. Since it is a scavenger, are Saudi Arabia’s villages located on mountains (the bird likes to feed and breed at a height) and have many dead animals that they wish to hide from the world?

I know the Israelis and most people are having a good laugh, but let us just say that their little big birdie is not up to much. It cannot study migratory patterns, loses its way, cannot lay its hands on a proper meal, does not even find a decent mate along the way, lacks any urban graces and goes to some stupid rural area and gets caught by the Saudis who usually prefer looking down at their oil wells.

I think this is a Saudi plot and the bird is really a falcon, its national bird.

- - -


Image: Mirror, UK