— Hilda Raja Vadodara

• The Mumbai attacks show the moribund state of our intelligence networks. We can no longer predict attacks nor work out even a mechanism to prevent terror, let alone implementing such a mechanism to root out terror. We’ve now become the victims of endless terror. It’s no longer a question of if, but merely when and where the next devastating attack will come. After an attack, there’ll be the usual platitudes from politicians and then things will be back to square one: that is, another attack.

— Sourabh Jyoti Sharma

New Delhi

New approach

• It’s obvious that both the Union and the state governments had been sleeping. It is infuriating to find them clueless every time. All that comes from our political class is a knee-jerk reaction. Terrorists are exploiting the fact that we are a very porous and diffuse society when it comes to security. To top it all, efficiency doesn’t exist in the professional lexicon of the law enforcers in India. It is time a few heads rolled, beginning with the home minister and the intelligence chiefs. It is time for a fresh approach to terror.

— S. Kamat Goa