Did the bombers target India's upper-class?
The leaders across the world including those from US, Britain, Pakistan and Bangladesh condemned the senseless attacks on civilians. The Secretary General of the UN called it an attack on humanity and its fundamental values. Latest reports indicate that Pakistan is willing to cooperate in the investigations with India's security forces.
Why target first-class compartments?
The bombs went off within minutes of each other along the Western Railway line, connecting the historical commercial districts of southern Mumbai to the spreading suburbs in the north. Six million passengers ride the trains in Mumbai city every day. It is a soft target and the bombers selected them.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The bombers seem to be targeting passengers who were leaving office for home. The bombs went off the during the peak hour at 6:30 in the evening. It was a calculated timing to cause huge loss of human life.
The bombers attempted to disrupt the frenzied rhythm of daily life in Mumbai, the financial and film capital, populated by 14 million people. It is a port from where exports and imports are conducted.
Large industrial companies, such as Reliance, Tata and a raft of state-owned firms like Air India and State Bank of India have headquarters in the city.
Analysts believe that two facts come out from the bomb blasts: (a) all seven first-class compartments in seven separate trains were targeted, and (b) the train system, the life line of the city, was attempted to be crippled
The bombers, observers say, deliberately targeted first-class compartments and the victims were overwhelming male and were of working age. Most of them reportedly were habitual first-class passengers.
Ronak Gandhi (21) reportedly said that "they wanted upper class people to suffer this time." His brother Chintan (25), lay inside Lilavati Hospital, with a broken arm and internal bleeding.
It has been argued that the bombers this time aimed at individuals who drive the unprecedented growth of the economy in the country. The dead people include bankers, office executives, stock brokers, diamond merchants, engineers and computer specialists.
That means all the upper class people seem to be targeted so as to hurt economy.
According to Morgan Chase in Singapore, "the blasts will have a few medium and long-term economic implications," while India's finance minister was quoted as saying that the terrorist attacks would have no impact on the economy.
India's economy continues to be growing dramatically and has been a cause for envy for many countries. Reports indicate that in India, production in factories, utilities and mines rose 10% per cent from a year earlier following April's revised 9.6% per cent gain, according to the Central Statistical Organisation.
India made more cement and steel in May this year to meet the demand at home, and crude oil output rose for the first time in almost a year. Tata Steel, India's second-biggest steelmaker, has been producing steel to meet the increasing demand and sales rose 28% per cent in the second quarter.
India's $775 billion economy (three times of Russia's economy) expanded 9.3% per cent from a year earlier in the quarter ended in March 31, the fastest after China among the world's 20 biggest economies. India aims at 10% per cent economic growth during the next decade to end poverty in the country.
Another view
There is another view of the cause of the blasts. Some observers believe that the bomb blasts were targeted towards people who ordinarily have a voice and influence in the decision-making of the government. The militants think that the business and entrepreneur classes are targeted, they might be aware that there exist serious political/social problems within India's society that need to be resolved. The government cannot be impervious to resolving the divisive issues for ever.
They also argue that terrorist acts, although cowardly, totally unjustifiable and unacceptable, do not occur for nothing. However wrong or mad their motive is, they exist and constitute a reality and one should seriously look into causes for terrorist attacks. For example, why does New Zealand or Canada not become the target of terrorists? But Madrid and London did.
How did Mumbai react?
Reports suggest that Mumbai people are defiant. Amazingly it was business as usual in the city the next day. Schools were open. Trains were running and Mumbai people took the day as if nothing could dampen their spirits. Some say that the crisis of the city is to turn into opportunity.
The car parks are full, traffic flowed normally and the pavement vendors sold an assortment of goods such as shirts, footwear and fruits. Banks reportedly did normal business.
The Mumbai Stock Exchange rebounded and rose 315 points and the Sensex was buoyed by the superior quarterly results of the outsourcing firm Infosys Technologies and Infosys shares climbed as much as 3386.45 rupees.
One Bank Manager stated that: "We are grieving on the inside but outwardly it is business as usual." Mumbai will not bow down to the terrorists. The defiant spirit that dominated Londoners last year had been visible in the minds people of Mumbai.
Who are responsible?
Police officials in Mumbai were attempting to build a clear picture of how explosives were planted and denoted. Local investigators told reporters that they suspected that most of the bombs were placed in the overhead luggage racks of the first-class compartments. The police were compiling sketches of several individuals described by fellow passengers as behaving strangely just before the explosions. But one fact seems to be certain that it was a smooth and highly sophisticated job. Some suspect that a "big country" seems to be behind the blasts.
A defence analyst K. Subrahmanyam reportedly said he saw similarities with the London and Madrid attacks in terms of the way it was planned. KPS Gill, a former chief of police in the Punjab and an expert on terrorist groups in India, said that he thought it was no coincidence that the attacks in Mumbai were preceded by a wave of blasts in Indian part of Kashmir. He reportedly accused Lashkar-e-Taiba, working under the umbrella of Al Qaeda.
Although terrorism is to be condemned by all accounts, no definition has been worked out as yet by the UN because one man's freedom fighters are another man's terrorists. Even Saarc failed to do so definitively. Some say that we have to live with terrorism as we live with endemic poverty. It will take a long time to get rid of terrorism. Terrorism is a symptom of a deeper ideological battle. Furthermore, terrorism has become embroiled with political issues and that is the problem.