The Simple Art of Terror

Maya Rolbin-Ghanie — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:22:39 +0000

by Anamitra Deb

On November 26th, 2008, Bombay was the target of a terrorist attack allegedly carried out by men from the jihadi organization, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), meaning 'Army of the Pure.' Armed with AK-47s, hand grenades, and RDX (an explosive chemical used in military applications), the terrorists targeted civilians, killing over 200 men, women and children.

Ten men came to my city by the sea and docked their rubber dinghy in a forgotten fisher-people’s slum. Ten men, armed with guns and grenades, headed nonchalantly in the direction of the city’s main attractions. Dressed in jeans and t-shirts, and carrying backpacks, ten men split into four groups, maybe five, and started the shooting later that evening.

In an attritional siege that lasted more than 60 hours, severe damage was done to the inhabitants of a city that is no stranger to terror.

Over half of the casualties took place within the first few hours, all at frequented landmarks – at the touristy Leopold Café, and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Train Station, used by millions of local commuters daily. At the already-overflowing Cama Hospital and outside of Bombay's oldest cinema, the Metro. Inside of the city’s best-known five-star hotels, the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi Trident, men fired guns in lobbies and staircases, bars and restaurants, chambers and kitchens.

300,000 displaced; Slum Demolitions on Hold in Mumbai

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:39:42 +0000

An estimated 300,000 people were left homeless in Mumbai, India when authorities bulldozed acres of slums that were housing the city's poor. The razing of shantytowns began in December 2004, as part of a program put in place by the municipal government of Greater Mumbai and the government of the state of Maharashtra.

The plan aims to clear squatters from government-owned land to make way for infrastructure and commercial development. Roughly half of Mumbai's population lives in slums. Due to high real estate costs, many middle class families also opt to live in huts on unused land.

"It took us a lifetime to build our houses," one former resident was quoted as saying in a Reuters report. "But the government is destroying them in a minute. We won't allow this." Hundreds of demonstrators continuously opposed the demolitions, some attacking crews that lacked police escorts, others shaving their heads in protest.

"We want to put the fear of the consequences of migration into these people. We have to restrain them from coming to Mumbai," said Vijay Kalam Patil, a Mumbai revenue officer. Hundreds of thousands have moved to the city from the countryside, looking for work in India's financial capital.

On the busiest day, over 6,000 houses were destroyed.

Finding themselves homeless and sleeping in rubble, many former slum-dwellers have discovered they are losing their democratic rights. Representatives of the National Congress Party recently filed a court injunction to remove those whose houses had been demolished from the voting rolls.

Many say that the Nationalist Congress party owed their success at the municipal level to the support of slum dwellers. Politicians had promised to regularize all huts built before the year 2000 but went back on the promise in a bid to "clean up" Mumbai.

Under intense pressure from the party's grass roots, Nationalist Congress representatives have put a de facto hold on demolitions.

While some commentators have condemned the demolitions as a "human made tsunami," Nationalist Congress officials are worried about a "growing perception" that their policies are anti-poor.

BBC: India's 'biggest slum demolitions'

Reuters: Bombay slum dwellers protest against demolitions

India News: House demolished, names removed from electoral rolls

Business Standard: Mumbai demolitions get Sonia`s nod

CounterPunch: Mr. Deshmukh's Bulldozers: Mumbai's Man-Made Tsunami

The Dominion - Mumbai

The Simple Art of Terror

300,000 displaced; Slum Demolitions on Hold in Mumbai