Why is Mumbai a tempting target?

	Aug 26, 2003: Why is Mumbai a tempting target?
	As expected, section of politicians and the Pseudo-Secular media are pointing their fingers at Gujarat as the cause of the Mumbai blasts. This is exactly what they want Indians to believe. This is the typical promotion of Jihadism by the Indian P-Sec community. According them, any terrorist attack on India is of a ‘retaliatory’ nature and hence ‘expected’ or may be ‘rightful’. Thank God, they are not pointing ‘Gujarat’ fingers to 9/11, Bali, UN and many such terrorist attacks, before and after. In reality, the Pakistan sponsored terrorism has nothing to do with any event in India. The ultimate objective of Pakistan is ‘balkanization’ of India and hence the attacks on India will never cease untill our politicians can show the ‘Iron will’ to wipe out Pakistani terrorism. Pakistan can not continue their terrorism even one day if the international community desires so. For the international community to desire so, India will have to become the economic and the military power with ‘Will’ to destroy the terrorist network, infrastructure and camps across the border and ‘liquidate’ their leaders. And to develop that “will” our P-Sec community and the politicians need to be exposed and thrashed forever. India can certainly take care of economic and military progress, can we defeat P-Sec Jihadis amongst us? Unfortunately, till then these attacks on the Indian economic nerve center will continue…….. Here is analysis of by B.Raman on ‘Why Mumbai?’ “Mumbai in India has been a tempting target for jihadi terrorists since 1993. It is the economic and financial capital of India. It is the base of India's off-shore oil industry. It provides a vision of what the rest of India could be in the years to come if the modernisation and globalisation policies of the government continue to make progress. Mumbai is also a city of strategic significance for India. It was the initial nerve-centre of India's nuclear establishment. In view of these factors, weakening the Indian economy by destabilising Mumbai has remained an important objective of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence since 1992. In the early 1990s, the ISI had asked some Sikh terrorists from Punjab trained by it to join the Mumbai Flying Club and crash a trainer plane on the off-shore oil installations. “ Why is Mumbai a tempting target? http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/26raman.htm B Raman August 26, 2003 Two explosions in quick succession in Mumbai on August 25, 2003, are estimated to have killed about 48 innocent civilians. One of these explosions took place near the Gateway of India in the vicinity of the Taj Hotel, a five-star hotel, which attracts many affluent foreign tourists from the world of business, from the West as well as the Gulf. Many middle class families of the Gulf, who cannot afford a vacation in the West and hence prefer to come to India, also often prefer to stay in this hotel. The second explosion took place in the Zaveri Bazaar, an area with a concentration of jewellers, many of them Gujaratis. ....... ......... .......... The Mumbai blasts of August 25, which have come in the wake of four other blasts with less casualty earlier, would show that the security agencies have so far not been able to identify and neutralise all the sleeper agents of the Lashkar who have burrowed into not only Mumbai, but also Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Many undetected networks continue to operate and the August 25 blasts are strong evidence of this. While the continuing anger over the Babri Masjid issue and the killing of a large number of Muslims in Gujarat last year would have definitely helped in motivating some of the local Muslim youth to help the Lashkar, it would be incorrect to see the blasts merely as an act of reprisal for the Gujarat riots. They have to be seen as part of the larger plan drawn up by the ISI in 1992 to weaken the Indian economy by destabilising Mumbai.