This just hit me as I sat down to blog today .Blogging is sometimes so heart breaking yet we continue to blog? But first my condolences to all who lost their loved ones in Bombay, my heartfelt prayers for those who died, and my sympathies for the people of Bombay -and India - as they agonize over a traumatic tragedy.

My apologies also for not having attended to my friends at this forum – but I was away at my village planting wheat on the farm. Since my return I have spent the next 48 hours glued to the TV –watching the gruesome tragedy unfolding in Bombay.

As I write it is all over, the last three terrorists at the Taj Mahal Hotel are dead. And so time to analyze the mayhem to see if we can avoid such disasters in future. I am not too confident though, for as in these two days I flicked from channel to channel the utter stupidity of those who should know better, stood out like a sore thumb. This then is the subject of today’s blog.

First the leaders and experts on the Indian channels. Within minutes of the event unfolding they discovered a boat in which these people had landed, and even found a passport and mobile SIM of Pakistani origin-some trained terrorists these! Their media went wild accusing Pakistan of being the hand behind the event. Soon their PM did the same, though in a more subtle way informing the world that ‘outside hands’ were involved. The CNN and BBC also joined in to clarify -least we miss it-that this meant Pakistan. What exactly did all these people want – war between two nuclear powers? If not what was the purpose of inflaming public opinion at a time when they should have been applying a soothing balm?

And what about Pakistan? President Zardari who a few days ago offered India a no first use nuclear weapons agreement-and also called even our brother Kashmiris as terrorists; as also our foreign minister , made all the right noises. Sympathizing with and offering all possible co-operation to the Indian government, they even agreed to dispatch the Dir Gen of Pakistan’s ISI to India as requested by the Indian PM.

But the rest of our lot went wild whipping Pakistan into an anti-India frenzy. Channel after channel presented ‘experts’ informing us that Indians were once again playing the blame game to implement their evil designs against Pakistan. They informed us that in the past too after the bombing of their Kabul embassy or even the Samjotha Express, Indians had indulged in ‘the blame game’ to discredit and take advantage of Pakistan.but failed in their design as they were unable to provide any evidence to support their allegations –as it was discovered that their own people including military officers were involved. However this time backed by the Americans-and Israelis- they aimed to dismember Pakistan!

And thus the dim wits on both sides added needless fuel to the fire-and all the good was undone. India placed its air force on red alert, and Pakistan presumably like in the past readied its nuclear weapons and warned about the need to pull out troops from the war on terror for repositioning troops against India. Even the DG ISI is now not going to India and only his representative or an ISI team will be going instead

I did not hear even one of our ‘goofs’ analyze why any Indian government must always do what it does –and immediately blame Pakistan, proof or no proof. I may be wrong but to my way of thinking anything less risks unleashing the fascist hordes of the ‘Shiv Sena’, BJP, Bajrang Dal and the Vishva Hindu Parishad on the Indian Muslim minority (which incidentally is larger then our entire population).Communal riots on that scale India just cannot afford.

So my request to all sane Pakistanis is: do beef up your defences; but learn to look on these statements as Indian government’s standard operating procedure for immediate damage control rather then aggressive measures. We both have too many skeletons in our own cupboard –and too much progress at stake – to perpetuate the emotionalism and gamesmanship of the past.

To the ‘experts’ I would say Indian intelligence has already found out that these terrorists had been in Bombay for at least a month, and that the action is more akin to that of Tamil Tigers rather then Islamic Jehadists.Consider also that Bombay lost three of it’s top anti-terrorist police officers. And Hemant Karkare it’s chief was instrumental in uncovering Hindu terrorist hands behind the Malegaon bomb blasts, something which was designed in a manner to pin blame on ISI or Muslims .Thus he exposed the mode of operations of various radical Hindu groups and despite severe political pressure- including threats to blow up his house and kill him- he managed to keep the issue apolitical and continue the investigation. The timings and method of the Bombay attack certainly served to distract the media glare from Hindu to Islamic Jehadi organizations.

Meanwhile the facts may already be about to surface. The city showed it love and respect for chief Hemant Karkare, not only in the large attendance at his funeral, but also in the rebuff it gave Gujarat CM Modi on his visit to Bombay. At every step of his visit Narendra Modi was shown very clearly that he was not welcome. Perhaps the strongest rebuff came from the wife of Karkare, who refused to meet him .Modi had been one of the first to blame Pakistan in his claim:”For the first time, Pakistan has used the sea route’.But Congress spokesperson, Manish Tewary put him in place by saying that if reports coming in are correct, then the boats which were used to attack Mumbai actually eminated from Porbandar;and adding if so the Gujarat government will have a lot to answer for.

Before you start terming me a propagandist let me add that the only sensible early comment in the western media was from the British PM on BBC.Asking both India and Pakistan to cool it down, he explained that the Taliban was a global organization who might have done this to sabotage the improving relations between India and Pakistan; and that global terrorist organizations could not be defeated through mutual recriminations.

Then there is the theory of an Indian naval officer who thinks this is an act by the Somali pirates to get back at the activities of the Indian navy; and of course theories of the respective intelligence agencies of both India and Pakistan which remains always standard in that each blames the other for any terrorist act on it’s soil.

So there I have given four theories already. And unless like in the past the Indian government intends to sleep over the matter once the public trauma has subsided and election realities come into re-play; may I suggest that Bombay is the place where we have an opportunity for getting at the root of the matter through international co-operation.

GB, Pakistan and USA have already indicated their willingness to do so. It is time for India to set national pride –and politics –aside; and establish a joint committee of intelligence experts from China, GB, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA to investigate the disaster. Those who died at Bombay, specially the brave Hemant Karkare, deserve a legacy which can help accomplish the task he set out to do. The Hemant Karkare s of the world need to be pooled together to eliminate terrorism in all its forms every where. What better place then to do so at Bombay?

As for the heart breaks in blogging, this blog is already too long; and so I leave the subject for another day.