Deliverance: 2008

Monday, December 1, 2008

When the notes stood still

Joint Official Statement fromLive Earth Founder Kevin Wall, The Office of the Honorable Al Gore andDr. R.K. Pachauri, Chairman IPCCRegardingLive Earth IndiaFriday, November 28, 2008Everyone involved with Live Earth India, from our U.S.- and India-based staff, artists and crew to our India-based broadcast, production, non-profit and marketing communications partners, is stunned and saddened by the tragic events of the past few days in our host city Mumbai. We always felt very welcomed and safe as we spent more time on the ground in Mumbai to finalize plans for Live Earth India, scheduled for December 7. Due to circumstances far beyond our control, we are saddened to announce that Live Earth India has been cancelled. We will continue to work for solutions to the climate crisis for the good of the people of India and around the world. But for now, our thoughts and our prayers are with the victims of this terrible attack, with the bereaved, with the people of Mumbai and with everyone in India. For updated information, please visit www.LiveEarth.org
A series of high-profile performances scheduled in Bombay over the next fortnight have been cancelled or postponed, and one put in serious doubt. A report by Himanshu Bhandari and Lakshmi Govindrajan for The Asian Age:

Against the backdrop of the terror attacks, the last thing security forces would want are large gatherings of people in heavily populated areas and including foreign nationals — both artistes and audiences.
The highly-anticipated Live Earth concert, the first in Mumbai, is scheduled to feature international acts like Bon Jovi and Roger Waters, as well as a host of Bollywood celebrities, at Bandra’s MMRDA grounds on December 7. But doubt had been cast on the show’s go-ahead in light of the current situation.
At the time of going to press, Anuja Choudhary, PR and corporate communications head of show organisers Wizcraft said a final call had yet to be taken. Asked of the possibility of an international act refusing to perform, she said, “It’s a collective decision. There has been no statement from the Live Earth organisation yet. Right now their prime concern is the safety of their staff. We’ll have to wait and watch.”
The Mumbai leg of Jethro Tull and Anoushka Shankar’s series of nationwide joint performances has definitely been cancelled. On Thursday, E18 chief executive officer Farhad Wadia had said the show was still on, while band leader and flautist Ian Anderson said, “If there’s ever a good time it’s now, people must be looking forward to happy things.”
But a day later Wadia revealed the decision to cancel after learning the police couldn’t assure maximum security. “The band even offered to perform for free, with the show’s proceeds going to victims of the attacks. But we can’t go ahead with it. We are now looking at rescheduling the show to December 4.” However the venue, he revealed, could shift from the original Shanmukhananda Hall.
The 2008 Jazz Utsav, a three-day festival scheduled to open on Friday at the Bandra Amphitheatre, has been postponed. First held in 1975 as Jazz India and latterly as the Jazz Yatra festival, the event is one of Mumbai’s longest-running and most identifiable music festivals. This year’s edition, organised by Blue Frog and Capital Jazz, did not open as scheduled on Friday.
Blue Frog communications head Tina Kapur said, “There were two things — one’s obviously the security aspect. Plus, it’s a decision out of respect. We’re looking to reschedule but since there are so many parties involved — bands, sponsors and organisers — there will be changes, including line-ups.” Asked if a rescheduling will push the event into the new year, she said, “We’re looking to have it before that, in December.”
For the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), the terrorists’ choice of location could not have been worse. The cultural centre is a stone’s throw away from the Oberoi-Trident, and the inaugural performance in its Arties India series of biannual chamber music festivals did not go ahead as planned on Thursday evening. Two subsequent performances on Saturday and Sunday featuring renowned French ensemble the Arties have had to be cancelled too, NCPA chairman Khushroo Suntook said.
“The police is not allowing us to go ahead with the performance, although we will make for all security arrangements. We have top people, our own staff, who will sweep and sanitise the entire area. For the moment, the Arties performances have been cancelled for this weekend. But the artistes will definitely be back for their next scheduled mini-festival in March,” said Suntook. Mumbai’s status as India’s financial capital is much touted, but few would argue its position as a cultural hub too. Its fabric and collective consciousness shaken, perhaps a dose of the eclectic is exactly what Mumbai needs right now. As Suntook observed of the NCPA’s cancelled performances, “This is music played defiantly in Moscow even as the Nazis were at the border. Music is a great medium to show resolve against brutality, and a way of calming people too.”

Firefighters tale

The old saying “fortune favours the brave” came true for the scores of firemen who went into the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower to help douse out fires amidst a fierce gun battle between terrorists and commandos with only two of the firemen returning injured despite none of them having bulletproof vests. Only one fireman and one driver were injured from the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) in the long drama.
Mr Yuvraj D. Pawar, (35), a fireman with the Colaba Fire Station narrated the sequence of events right from getting the emergency call till the end of the saga. For Mr Pawar this was one of the worst incidents in his career with the fire department that spans over 15 years. “On Wednesday night we headed towards Oberoi Hotel on getting a call. After parking the fire tender, we started enquiring with the police about the status of the siege,” said Mr Pawar. By then there was a grenade attack from the upper floors of the Oberoi Hotel. “Luckily none of the fire personnel were injured in this blast,” said Mr Pawar. “It was touch and go for us,” said Mr Prabhat Rahangdale, assistant division fire officer at Colaba fire station.
When firemen learnt that the Kandahar Restaurant was in flames, they started dousing the fire from outside.
“We put up an aerial ladder to start our work and police personnel gave us cover since we did not have any protective wear. The fire was put off within 30 minutes. However, crossfiring was still on,” said Mr Pawar.
After sometime, there was another call, this time however, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower was in flames. While firemen were preparing to make a move, three grenades were thrown; all of them missing the target.
“We started putting up the ladders and rescued around 300 to 350 people,” said Mr Pawar. The terrorists continued to ignite the fire wherever possible. Fortunately, no grenades were hurled nor were any gunshots fired in the night. However, what remained in store was a chilling discovery. A live grenade was lying on the road beneath a car on the pay and park lot for almost eight hours. “The grenade could have gone off at the slightest vibration, hence, killing many of us,” said Mr Pawar.
On Thursday afternoon, while firemen were extinguishing the fire between the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower there was heavy crossfire between the commandos and the terrorists. “The situation was very dangerous, since bullets were being exchanged. The thought of my family kept running through my mind but I had to overcome it,” said Mr Pawar.

The Asian Age correspondents

R.R. Patil on resignation

Deputy chief minister (DCM) R.R. Patil doused all speculation about his resignation as he expressed his determination to hold on to the portfolio of the Maharashtra home ministry on Sunday. Defending his stand, Mr Patil said that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi did not resign after the attack on Akshardham temple neither did senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani resign after the attack on the Parliament. Chief minister (CM) Vilasrao Deshmukh and the DCM have been under tremendous pressure to quit, after failing to prevent the terror attack on November 26 in Mumbai. “I have heard that BJP leader Gopinath Munde had demanded for my resignation following the multiple terror attacks in Mumbai,” Mr Patil said. He added, “When Akshardham was attacked, the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi did not resign. When the Parliament was attacked the then Union home minister L.K. Advani also did not resign. Then why should I resign after the Mumbai attack? What morality is BJP talking about?” Mr Patil questioned.
On Sunday, following Union home minister Shivraj Patil’s resignation, there were speculations that the Maharashtra CM and his deputy, Mr Patil, would also resign.
Mr Patil had a meeting with the CM at his official residence Varsha in Malabar Hill on Sunday afternoon. The meeting was held to discuss the law and order situation. After the meeting, both of them said that they would not resign. The CM also dismissed reports about the Centre asking him to resign. “There is no question of my resignation. Nobody has asked me to resign,” he said.
The Centre has claimed that an intelligence report about a possible terror attack on the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel was forwarded to the Maharashtra government few days before the incident. The Gujarat government also claimed that they had informed their counterparts in Maharashtra about terrorist movement in the Arabian Sea. Fishermen’s unions from Mumbai and Porbandar in Gujarat also claimed to have alerted the Maharashtra home ministry about suspicious boats moving in the sea.
However, Mr Patil denied that there was any security lapse. Earlier, Mr Patil also received flak for a statement he made, while speaking with the press regarding the terror attacks on Saturday. He said, “In big cities, one or two incidents like this do happen. The terrorists had planned to kill at least 5,000 people. But the police’s efforts ensured minimal damage.”

‘Attacks were planned by Let’

The Mumbai police crime branch investigating the terror attack said on Sunday that Ajmal Kasab (21), the only terrorist captured alive, has told his interrogators that this was a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operation. Ajmal had said that they were handpicked for this operation by their handlers and were trained extensively before carrying out the attack.“Ajmal has told us that he joined the Pakistan-based terror outfit one-and-a-half years ago and that the group of 10 including Ajmal were trained in camps in Pakistan. The group was extremely well equipped and well trained,” said Mr Rakesh Maria, joint commissioner of police, crime. Ajmal also told his interrogators that they were handpicked for the operation. “We are verifying the identities of their handlers and shall disclose them once they are confirmed. Ajmal told us that the group was handpicked for the operation,” said Mr Maria.According to Mr Maria, the crime branch is now in touch with Central agencies to verify what Ajmal has told them. “Ajmal gave us the names of the other nine terrorists, some of them may be aliases. We are now in touch with Central agencies to verify the information given by Ajmal,” said Mr Maria.Meanwhile the police only has CCTV footage of the CST attack and not of the Taj Hotel and the Trident Oberoi. “The systems of the hotels are currently down. We are however hopeful of getting the footage once the systems are restored,” said Mr Maria.

Local cops hold fort for NSG

The National Security Guard (NSG) and the marine commandos (marcos) may have finished the operations at the Taj Mahal Hotel but it was the police from Mumbai force who foiled the terrorists’ plans to enter the new building of the hotel. If the terrorists had succeeded, they would have cost hundreds of more lives. These were bigger plans that the terrorists had made. However, the local police ensured that the terrorists did not reach the first floor — which connects the old building to the new one — for seven hours.“The terrorists had formed groups of two to enter their targetted areas. Four of them entered the Taj Mahal Hotel. The plan was for two to enter the new building and two to enter from the old one,” said Mr Vishwas Nangre-Patil, deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, who led the police team inside the hotel.According to Mr Nangre-Patil, he entered with his team and went straight to the sixth floor of the building. The police wanted to have an upper hand over the terrorists. “We started firing at the terrorists who were on the fourth and the fifth floors of the building. They retaliated by throwing hand grenades at us. Their plan was to get to top floors first, assess the situation and then head back down. We engaged them by firing continuously at them,” said Mr Nangre-Patil.Two ballrooms in the new building of the Taj Mahal Hotel were packed with guests, one of which held the wedding reception of Amit and Varsha Thadani, “All the occupants of the new building were rescued in the night itself. The marcos came at 4.30 am while the NSG commandos came at 7 am and took over the operation,” said Mr Nangre-Patil. According to an Anti-Terrorism Squad officer, who was at the hotel, the NSG took over the operation and the task given to them was to rescue the hostages from the rooms. “The NSG guards told us which rooms had trapped people giving us the room numbers. We would then go into the rooms, take the guests into confidence and bring them to safety,” the officer said. Apart from that, the local police also gave cover to the NSG till the operation lasted.

CM ‘tours’ Taj like film set

Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is already in the line of fire for his response to the terrorist attacks, might be on his way out. Firstly, Mr Deshmukh was in Kerala at the time of the attacks on Mumbai. He then took hours to get back to the city and spent most of his time negotiating the high-pressure situation with all quarters. He was heard saying that he was very “shocked” as he was pressured to take some action against what was happening. Despite all his words, it seems that the CM was better off in Kerala than in Mumbai. He continually did the wrong things at wrong times making things worse for himself. Mr Deshmukh even took the time to “boost” his actor son Riteish Deshmukh’s career, who accompanied his father to the Taj Mahal Hotel on Sunday morning. Apart from Riteish, director Ram Gopal Varma was also in tow. Riteish’s presence surprised many but on seeing Mr Varma was a complete shock. Riteish and Mr Varma were roaming around the place as if they were out to finalise a shooting location for their next film. All of this happened just 24 hours after the last terrorist was shot down after 59 hours of intense war. Mr Varma was not available for comment, but in his defence he was “not accompanying Mr Deshmukh”. “Ram Gopal Varma saying that he was not with the CM is the worst statement. This also goes for the CM’s son. Who allowed him to go into the hotel? This is misuse of power and they should be investigated because it is a serious security lapse,” said Ashok Pandit, a film producer and activist. Many citizens, who reacted to Mr Deshmukh’s actions by SMSs, emails, blogs and other media, shared Mr Pandit’s opinion. This could be the last nail in the CM’s coffin.

Taj trainee's training in survival

What started off as a an act of taking trapped guests to safety turned into a fight for survival for trainee Ali Haidari in the Taj Hotel after a terrorist opened fire killing many guests including his senior who was spearheading the rescue operation. Thereafter it was sheer determination and the will to survive that saw the management trainee escape from the hotel and to the safety of the police van waiting outside.
Mr Haidari, a Hotel Operational Management Trainee (HOMT) at the Taj Hotel was assisting the chefs prepare the orders made by the guests. However, after the terrorists besieged the hotel at around 10 pm, it became a duty to save the guests as well as his own life.
According to Mr Haidari, the ballroom area between the old and the new Taj had been relatively unaffected by the terrorist onslaught and hence the hotel staff had been herding the guests who had taken shelter in the lounge area towards the main kitchen from where they could go out safely.
“At around 3.45 am while the guests were passing through the corridor between the kitchen and the ballroom one of the terrorists showed up and started firing indiscriminately. At the time the other trainees and I were helping our senior to lead the guests to safety,” said Mr Haideri.
The mayhem that followed saw three guests and the senior Chef Bhanja being killed while many others were left injured. Mr Haideri took evasive action and jumped behind the safety of a hot plate unit in the corridor even as bullets flew overhead. “A bullet ricocheted from the body of the metal unit and got lodged in the wall over my head. That was how close I came to death,” said Mr Haideri.
The young trainee however, did not stay there for long afraid that the terrorist would walk down the corridor and shoot him on seeing him. “I crawled into the adjoining kitchen which was dark as the lights had been turned off. I had armed myself with some utensils in case I confronted the terrorist who I could hear was coming down the corridor,” said Mr Haideri. Luckily for the youngster the terrorist did not bother checking the kitchen.
With gunshots and blasts echoing through the hotel mingled with moans of the injured and calls for help coming from the corridor, Mr Haideri stayed in the kitchen for what seemed like an eternity for him. “After waiting for 45-50 minutes,I called another senior who told me to stay where I was until help came for me,” said Mr Haideri. However, the prospect of becoming a sitting duck did not appeal to the trainee and hence he decided to venture out and escape.
“I crawled out of the kitchen watching out for terrorists. I quickly made my way to the opposite kitchen from where I went to the ballroom which was deserted except for a couple who were standing at the window waiting to be evacuated by the fire brigade. I quickly climbed down the ladder from the first floor and rushed to the police van which took us to the Taj Wellington where I met the other chefs,” said Mr Haideri. He said that the incident would always haunt him but he was just glad that he got out unscathed. “I will be working in the Taj Hotel for another four months before I complete my chef-de-partie course. I would still love to work at the Taj later on. In a way this is where I got a second chance at life,” said Mr Haideri.

FBI team detained at airport

Nov. 30: The 8-member Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team that arrived in Mumbai at 11 am on Sunday, spent the entire day at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport because they did not have any official clearance to carry weapons.
A source from the customs said that the FBI team would be allowed to exit the airport after receiving clearances from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). “Usually, the clearance from MHA takes day or two. But in this case, we are expecting the clearance to come sooner.”
The source said that security personnel carrying weapons are cleared by the customs, provided they have prior clearance from the customs department. But the FBI team arrived without the customs’ clearance for carrying weapons.
“In that case, we approach the MHA for clearance. The FBI team had the option of surrendering their weapons and leave. They could have collected their weapons after the MHA’s clearance. But they did not want leave their weapons and preferred to wait at the airport until they had MHA clearance,” the source said.The US has sent the FBI team to assist in the probe into the Mumbai terror attacks. President George W. Bush pledged “full support” to India in its efforts to unearth the plot behind the deadly terror strikes.