11/7 a day of destruction

Terrorists in my view can best be described as hidden or unseen predators that prey on the innocent in the form of a shadow of evil. You know that they are there but you cannot make them out because of their silhouette of deceit. They are deceitful to themselves as they cowardly hide behind an identity that they themselves cannot face. They are unable to 'come to the table' and discuss or address publicly their issues. They resort to coversion to generate fear, uncertainty and doubt. They do not hesitate to put across their sense of distortion.

On 11th July in Mumbai, India during the rush hour explosions occurred within 11 minutes during. More than 714 people were hurt and 185 people shockingly killed. Hospitals sent out urgent appeals for blood donations.

Early Wednesday, hundreds of people at a station 440 kilometres (275 miles) from Mumbai. Two rail lines were restored by dawn, and a third was expected to reopen in the morning. The city's suburban train system is one of the busiest in the world, carrying more than six million commuters a day.

On Wednesday morning the Red Cross said that bodies are still being found and hospitals in the West Indian seaport are scrambling to care for survivors. Heavy monsoon rains hampered rescue efforts, bystanders wrapped people in blankets and helped transport the injured to hospitals.

Maybe by no coincidence the attacks struck just before of the G8 (group of eight) summit of world leaders that begins on Saturday 15th July in St. Petersburg, Russia. Last year's July 7 terror bombings in London that killed 52 people came as UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was hosting the G8 summit in Scotland.

Maybe the terrorists are trying to show that they are still alive and a deadly force?

I hope that one of the Indian government's immediate areas of focus will be on stability rather than seeing the ignition of rumours or on apportioning blame. In the past Mumbai has seen violence quickly spark to counter-violence. I really hope that any right wing extremist groups does not use the current situation as a way of raising further fears in people.

The aftermath of such an act as we have seen in many other countries is one of shock and worry. Madridites’ after they suffered train bomb blasts the next day showed a sense of defiance against the terrorists by bringing together over one million peple to march united into the city of Madrid. Maybe Mumbai can do the same.

Improvements in security will help but they have the risk of impacting on human rights and will need regulatory procedures.

What we need today is unified approach. Progress on issues need to be faster but not under the duress of the terrorists.

In a country that is still defined as 'developing', especially from the perspective of a wide gap between those that have and those that have not, I worry deeply for those that have lost family members or friends. I hope that a fund (national and international) can be established to help them.