Four, 9/11 was an indictment of US intelligence. But the enduring image of 9/11 remains the brilliant and publicly confident way New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani took charge. It is this response that Indians are looking for, that Indians deserve and that hopefully we will have, the next time it happens.

Five, at first rumours floated around that there was gang-warfare in restaurants and on the streets. If we had an official disaster/crisis management centre, they could piece together a clear understanding of the pattern emerging. The reaction in different locations would have been radically different.

Six, it is completely incomprehensible that it took the NSG several hours after the incidents began, to leave Delhi for Mumbai. This implies that they lost vital hours in reaching the sites. This performance by our government has an Alice-in-Wonderland touch. The aggravating matter is that after the Kandahar hijacking, we knew that quick responses were key. If the right orders had come in time from the “proper authorities” (whoever they are), the tyres of the Indian Airlines plane would have been punctured and the plane would not have taken off for Afghanistan. But then AND now the “proper authorities” have taken many hours to react. Our leaders have to realise that they are not running a nineteenth century colonial administration where multiple departments and complex procedures prevail. We need to have a disaster management plan that goes into effect virtually automatically, a crisis room gets into operation and citizens are given a clear impression that someone is in charge.

... contd.