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Politics : Bush-The Mastermind behind 9/11? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rock_nj who wrote (12939)	7/11/2006 10:09:14 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20039

Good News From Mumbai Today (in case you thought Islamofascists loved democracies): Bombs explode in Mumbai, 167 dead 12 July 2006 By MICHAEL FIELD India's commercial capital Mumbai has been hit by eight devastating explosions in the first class compartments of commuter trains travelling on the city's packed Western Line, killing at least 167 people and wounding nearly 500. A Christchurch man who would normally travel on the line has had a narrow escape but so far no New Zealanders have been identified among the causalities but it was causing severe anxiety for dozens of expatriate Indian families here. A blog written by a Christchurch man revealed he regularly took the train. "Specifically, one of the blasts was in Khar, one suburb away from where I live, in the first class compartment of a Western Railways train," the man known only as Gareth wrote. "I'm feeling a little bit shaken up right now, because I would usually be coming home from work on that train, at around this time. In the same compartment too - I take first class these days." He added: "Be thankful you live in New Zealand. We don't know how lucky we are mate." The attacks are a horrific replay of "Black Friday", March 12, 1993, when 257 people were killed in a series of bomb blasts which hit the Bombay Stock Exchange and across the city. The bombs were planted by notorious Mumbai gangsters Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon in revenge for destruction of a Muslim mosque in Ayodhya by extreme Hindus. Ex-Mumbai resident now living in Auckland, Sudeepta Vyas, woke to the news of the bombing and memories of her own narrow escape from the Stock Exchange bomb which went off inside the building as she passed outside. "Yes, that sound comes back. It was so loud," she said. "I can just imagine how the people in the train would have felt. At least on land you can start running somewhere but what do you do if you are in a train? You don't know what is happening. I think it's much worse if you are in a train." Waking this morning was like waking to news of New York's 9/11 attacks. "For people who live in Mumbai, because of the way the city is, there is a panic throughout the whole city. People living at the other end, and Mumbai goes on and on forever, especially on the Western line, even at the other end there will be panic," she said. "Parents will be thinking about their children returning from the city, and most people use the train. Even if you are the CEO of a company you will use the train because it takes two hours or three hours by car. Everybody has someone who travels by train?. There will be so much panic, I can just imagine, the crowds and all." The monsoon rains have badly affected Bombay's phone lines, making life harder for everybody. "The first thing is my family; that happens even in the rains and the trains stop working. "So there is panic even then, so you can imagine the worry and the anxiety now. And then for everybody else, you know your neighbours have people travelling, and your friends have people travelling." Mrs Vyas is involved with a non-profit Indian culture organisation, Prayas, which is, ironically, about to stage a much loved Indian morality play, Charandas Chor. News of bombings did not provoke thoughts of anger. LUCKY ESCAPE: Christchurch man Gareth, now living in Mumbai, normally travels on one of the trains that was blown up. He was at the dentist at the time of the explosion. Supplied "When I woke up I felt a lot of pain. It was not a lot of mad rage over what they have done, its not like that. It's a more controlled despair, why do they do it?" Auckland's Indian Newslink editor Venkat Raman said many of the Indians now living in New Zealand would have come from Bombay, or know it well. "It will be a time of anxiety and fear for many of them," he said. "It is quite tough and tragic because they will know the city well and know that line and will be worried about people on the trains at that time." New Zealand diplomats in New Delhi and Mumbai could not be contacted early this morning, but an official from a Bombay based New Zealand education based provider said she believed no New Zealanders were caught up. "At this time of the day it is only really local people travelling on the local trains," the woman who declined to be named said. "I don't think any New Zealanders would be travelling on the local trains." The woman said when she finished work to go home the trains had been stopped and like millions of others, could not move. "So I came back to the office. We have people going to New Zealand soon, so I have work to do." In New Zealand the Auckland based Indian Radio Tarana devoted its overnight programming to the news. "We switched to running BBC Hindi, it is a big story for our people," Tarana managing director Robert Khan said. The death and injury toll was rising throughout the day while a clear picture of what was happening was handicapped by heavy monsoon rains which had taken out many of the landlines. Authorities had also severely limited the cellular network for fear it could be used to trigger more attacks. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but the CNN-IBN television channel said the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group, which seeks an end to Indian control of Jammu and Kashmir state, may have been behind the attack. India's major cities were put on high alert after the blasts, which appeared timed to impose maximum carnage in the bustling city of 16 million. Its crowded rail network - carrying more than 6 million people a day - was thrown into chaos by the blasts and authorities were struggling to determine the impact. stuff.co.nz