India continues to be angry with India’s political leadership and the politicians as a whole for not learning the correct lessons from the horrific attacks by Pakistan Army commando-trained and facilitated terrorists groups that created mayhem in Mumbai last year November 26. This is the overwhelming impression that one gains from the focused media coverage especially by India’s TV channels on the first anniversary of this day of infamy for India’s political leadership. The Indian public opinion is incensed that the Indian Prime Minister and his Government has not gone beyond sending dozens of dossiers of evidence to the Pakistan Government calling for conviction of all those who were involved in the Mumbai 26/11 conspiracy and to be met with Pakistan’s characteristic rebuttals. The Indian public is further incensed that the Indian Government keeps on hoping that the United States would come to India’s rescue on this account, again fully aware that the United States cannot oblige India because it has bigger stakes in the Pakistan Army than in India.

The Indian public’ frustrations on this account seemingly arise more from the fact that the Indian Prime Minister had in the years preceding Mumbai 26/11 been following a policy of appeasement towards Pakistan under external prodding hoping that his gentle pacifist approaches may kindle some sense in the Pakistan Army which dominates Pakistan’s policy-making on India and the conduct of proxy war and terrorism against India. The Indian Government went horribly wrong in its readings on Pakistan leadership’s attitudinal approaches to India. Worse, the India Government’s readings on Pakistan continue to be wrong and based on faulty premises.

The big question that was pervading the Indian media coverage of the sad anniversary of Mumbai 26/11 was that has the Indian leadership learnt the appropriate lesson and taken decisive steps to upgrade India’s internal security and has India spruced up its Intelligence agencies and their set-up? Further and more importantly the question that weighed heavily in media coverage was focused on the question whether Indians felt safe against the eventuality of a repeat of Mumbai 26/11 by Pakistan and was India fully geared up to meet such a challenge? The prevailing public opinion was in the negative on both counts.

Besides other reasons that one would ponder over are the glaring Indian lapses that have surfaced in connection with the Headley-Rana revelations of the United States FBI that the duo were planning a repeat of Mumbai 26/11 and had slipped in and out of India in the last few months. In the glare of these serious and sordid revelations lay bared the total failure of Indian intelligence agencies, our diplomatic outposts abroad, the immigration officials at our international airports and the police of metropolitan cities like Mumbai and New Delhi.

The horror of such Indian official lapses brings to the fore the all important question as to whether this Pakistan duo would have been successful in inflicting another Mumbai 26/11 had the United States FBI had not been successful in intercepting them on their way to board flights for India.

The Indian Government cannot pass on the blame to these agencies and absolve itself from blame. The failure of such a vast spread of Government agencies who should have been alert to a fault within not a year even past Mumbai 26/11 is a total “systems failure” of all agencies under the control of the present Indian Government. Failure is not only horizontal but failure in this case goes vertically upward to the highest levels of the Indian Government.

India has every right therefore to be angry with its politicians on both sides of the fence for not learning the appropriate lessons from Mumbai 26/11 and ensuring India’s security. The Indian Government’s failures stand exposed and the Opposition political parties too need equal blame for failing to keep the Government under pressure and scrutiny in not becoming a prey to a “systems failure”.