I have had the opportunity to go to Mumbai and absolutely loved the city and all of the local people that I met whilst I was there. I’m hence dumbfounded and at a complete loss of words in seeing the city i ve come to love so much burn up. It is so upsetting to see the places i had once visited to be engulfed into such a "WARZONE" .

Mumbai has such a rich and friendly culture.The "aam mumbaikar"goes out of his or her wayto ensure support and sustenance to any one that haisl their path. Their resilience was shown in the floods and the last train terror attack. Unfortunately it is sad to say that events such as these attacks do not help the reputation of the country at all and of course it prevents tourists going to India in fear of their own safety.

The massacre in Mumbai started late on Wednesday when gunmen armed with automatic guns and grenades starting shooting indiscriminately at a main railway station, the Chattrapatti Shivaji terminus [CST] also caleld the Victoria terminus, two posh hotels the Taj Mahal, a symbol of pride for 130 years in Mumbai, and the Oberoi,Cafe Leopold a popular café for foreigners,whose owner Frank is a good friend, a hospital at Cama and a Jewish center at Nariman,all well known joints for me.

Around 370 people have been injured since Wednesday and 160 people are dead although this death toll is still rising.

The Mumbai police, The Indian soldiers [Army and Navy] as well as the elite NSG,have been working flat out to battle with the militants and save hostages. However, the number of shocked, dazed and upset civilians that are in the hotel lobbies etc make it more difficult for the soldiers to do their job. One officer said : We ll try to minimize civilian casualties, but it s so hard to let out who s a civilian and whos the terrorist.

British civilian, Mark Abell who was freed after spending over 36 hours in his hotel room was delighted at coming out alive. and his recount of the ordeal and the chaos that surrounds him, was indeed upsetting. Although happy to be out and on his way home to his family, the reality of the bloodshed and terror around him is extremely prominent. People that he has met only the day before in the hotel are now dead and he was shocked by the state of the hotel. He described the Hotel Lobby as "A carnage of blood and guts"

It is still unclear who is behind these attacks, but India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggested that Pakistan had involvement with the attacks.This comes from the Intelligence reports of a captured terrorist who stated that "The mission was to kill as many civilians as possible; Blow up the points " He also revealed alarming facts that the Pakistani navy and the Ever notorious ISI have had hands in training these insurgents.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi,who by thw way was in India during this, scampered back to pakistan in the face of such humiliating allegations.He blatantly denies any involvement and responded by saying

"‘Do not bring politics into this issue. This is a collective issue. We are facing a common enemy and we should join hands to defeat the enemy.’"

The Minister had previously agreed that the ISI chief would be sent to India to be handed over proof of pakistani Links in the terror plots of 26/11, but in true double standards, the ministry has said :

"AN OFFICIAL shall be sent to india for this"

The Indian Navy has located a merchant ship, a fishing trawler to be exact,with the captain beheaded in its murk, along with a satellite phone with records indicating that calls were made to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan to a prominent Lashkar -E- Toiba militant leader.

Analyts in Pakistan have suggested that there is a possibility that these militants are home-grown Indian extremists, operating without external support. I hope that Pakistan are not involved in these attacks so that both Pakistan and India can work together to combat these awful terror attacks that they are constantly threatened by.But these statements hamper the relation buliding measures that both the countries so painstakingly undertake, the pakistani officials ought to share more and act in accordance with the Indian officials and learn to swallow its mistakes.

The story unfolded by events are so :

Terrorist training was given out 6 months in advance to handpicked trainees by the ISI.A 1 month break was given and then the Pak Navy trained them in maritime terrorism.The Militants shipped to reach indian waters where the hijacked a fishing trawler, KUBERA.they contacted the L-E-T head at muzzafarabad as per satellite phone records and beheaded the captain.The ship was found abandoned off the gujarat coast by the Indian navy.

The terrorists had inflatable rubber boats that the entered into the coast of mumbai.reportedly, 10 terrorists landed in Mumbai, with enough ammunition to last a long time.they split into groups and targeted the main vantage points.One group headed to the Taj and the oberoi, firing indiscriminately. Another to the CST and the Metro cinema, where ATS chief Mr. Hemant Karkare, Additional DGP. Mr.kamte, and encounter specialist , Mr. vijay kalaskar were killed. The terrorists hijacked a police qualis and tracked out in true GTA style.The same scene unfolded at The Cama hospital and VT station. Nariman house was hijacked as well. Some terrorists targeted a foriegner hotspot, Cafe Leopold and escaped after firing and causing mayhem there. They tracked into the taj later.

All the 3 major points were held at ransom, with the NSG,police and firefighters fighting it out.58 hours later, at the cost of 2 NSG commandos and 14 other brave souls, Mumbai was saved from the clutches of these pirates.Countless explosions, raining of bullets and fire were hall marks of this siege.

The cost of this act of cowardice by the terrorists, has been the lives of India s finest, including the Officers of the Police and the NSG, Cine actor Ashutosh Chaudhry s sister and noted journalist, Sabina Sehgal...and may other hostages.

The motive is yet unclear, but its high time the government re assessed the ways it deals with the country s internal security.Political tomfoolery such as turning this event into a vote bank should be avoided. And of course, Mr. Raj Thackeray should realise that the Commando who died defending "his" city was from the BIHAR regiment and a MALAYALI.So quit the maharashtrian gimmick and realise that we are indians.Co incidentally, hindu fundamentalists had issued a warning to blow up ATS chef hemant Karkare s house up, so ironically 2 days later the man winds up dead to terrorist attacks.

Is this the cost we re going to pay for being Indians.Unity is not in the words but in the actions, and i urge my fellow brothers and sisters to unify as indians and not as maharashtrians, biharis,kashmiris or madrasis.We should stand by each others as Indians.

And for God's sake, enough is enough.We re sick and tired of indiscriminate blame games shot up by the politicians and urge them kindly to not take this issue up as a vote garnerer.Dont let the valiant efforts of those men go in flames.