Click to play videoThe 26/11probe report by a committee headed by former bureaucrat, Ram Pradhan, has been under a veil of secrecy for several months now, and the Maharashtra government has steadfastly refused to make it public. Now, the report has been accessed by our sister news channel, IBN 7.
CNN-IBN answers all the big questions that the Ram Pradhan report has raised on the most high-profile terror attack that India has confronted. Here are some of the questions that were raised after Mumbai was held hostage by terrorists for nearly 60 hours, starting on November 26, 2008.
- Who was responsible for the lapses on 26/11, was it individual officers or the entire system?
- What were the circumstances that led to the death of top cops Karkare and Kamte?
- Did the Mumbai police suffer from lack of ammunition and low quality bulletproof jackets?
- Will the 26/11 report change anything on the ground?
To try and answer some of these questions on the panel of experts were former additional director of RAW, B Raman; Co-Author, The Last Bullet, Vineeta Deshmukh; CNN-IBN Managing Editor, Vinay Tewari; CNN-IBN Correspondent Toral Varia; former Mumbai police commissioner, MN Singh; and NCP MLC, Jiten Ahwad.
Who was responsible for confusion and mishandling of the attacks?
The 26/11 report is critical of the role of then police commissioner, Hasan Gafoor. It questions the manner in which the standard operating procedures were not followed. Most of the officers whom Gafoor has blamed for not being effective during the operation have not been criticised by the Pradhan committee.
MN Singh kickstarted the debate saying, "The police commissioner has to take all the responsibility and the blame but the role of the junior officers - which Gafoor has belatedly talked about - will also have to be looked into because. However, I find his allegations, coming a year after the incident, very surprising. He should have immediately submitted a default report and should have gone straight to the government. That apart, the fact that officers did not carry out his orders is a serious matter and has to be looked into."
He said that it was more a systems failure than anything else. "To begin with, the Intelligence machinery failed. Then the preventive machinery like the customs and the coast guard also failed to prevent terrorists coming in from the sea route and of course the forces on the land failed to respond promptly and effectively and the mayhem went on for three days. I think the government will also have to take responsibility. I think the Ram Pradhan Committee should have been given very narrow terms of references that a lot of things have remained under wraps and we have not found out the complete truth."
He said that it was very sad that when the Vinita Kamte - the widow of Ashok Kamte, one of the senior officers who died on 26/11 - said that someone from the Ram Pradhan Committee should have called her, the panel responded by saying that they were not supposed to talk to members of the public, making it evident that the scope of their probe was very small.
"She is not just a member of the public, she is the widow of a martyr," he stated.
Vinita Kamte has written a book The Last Bullet - which she co-authored with Vinita Deshmukh - which accuses Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria for mishandling the situation. The Ram Pradhan Committee report, meanwhile has said praised Maria for his role in handling the situation.
Vinita Deshmukh responded to this saying, "It's really surprising, but what I would like to say is that we are not directing the blame at one officer. It's just that he happens to be at the helm of affairs. He was in charge of the control room according to call records. There were lapses as far as the Cama Hospital scene went. No help came for 40 minutes. The Ram Pradhan Committee also had those records and yet it has given a clean chit to the officers handling the control room."
Vinay Tewari entered the debate here saying that though the report talks about Hassan Gafoor, it does not mention him by name, instead choosing to talk about the 'commissioner's officer'.
"The fact is that Gafoor was nowhere to be seen that night - neither in the control room nor with his men out in the field fighting. He chose to park himself outside Oberoi Hotel. There was complete confusion to the extent that the report states that officers were talking to DGP AN Roy and not to then commissioner Gafoor directly," Tewari said.
B Raman said, "Whenever something of this extent happens, the first responsibility lies with the command and control. In Mumbai, the command and control rests with the commissioner's office in a case such as 26/11. So the panel has rightly focussed on the commissioner's office. We have to accept the fact that there was no effective command and control and we have to go into it. After that comes the question of individual responsibility."
Toral Varia entered the debate at this point saying that officers were feeling cheated after Gafoor named them recently in an interview to a magazine. Gafoor told the magazine that some of his senior officers did not respond to the attack. The officers had initiated proceedings against Gafoor in court and a showcause notice was issued to the former commissioner on Monday. She also said that the fact that there was an absentee chief minister at that time did not bode well with the fighting forces.
To this Jiten Ahwad said, "The chief minister came immediately, as soon as he heard about what had happened. As far as the report goes, I agree with M N Singh that the scope of the probe was very small.
But at the end of the day, not a single politician has been indicted by the report and the focus is on the police command.
Was there any foul play behind deaths of Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar?
The Ram Pradhan Committee report states the Control Room "could not closely track the movements of terrorists or police teams in their pursuit because simultaneous events were happening in that area and senior officers present on the spot were not keeping the CR informed of their tactical plans". So where does that leave the claims their widows are making?
Vinita Deshmukh said her book The Last Bullet has never claimed there was any foul play in the deaths of the officers. She said that they wanted to point out a complete collapse of the system.
"It's strange that the panel should say their decision to go to Cama Hospital was sudden because we have all the records of calls. It is actually the fact that no reinforcements were sent to them. There was no quick rapid time action, why did it take more than 40 minutes to collect their bodies. Records show Karkare had asked for reinforcements at the front side of Cama Hospital, but none arrived," she stated.
She said that it was strange the committee would only go by the depositions of witnesses.
Vinay Tewari agreed saying, "Wireless and log book records have not been looked into at all. The panel has gone by depositions of officers who say there was no plan to go to Cama hospital and they only went because they had left their cars some distance away, they saw an ACP's Qualis there, decided to get into it and ironically drove in the same direction from where Kasab and Ismail were coming."
MN Singh interrupted here saying that Vinita Kamte and Vinita Deshmukh's book had not reported any findings, did not draw any conclusion, it just posed certain questions.
"The trio was in the battlefield. I have seen the log book. Karkare sent many messages asking for reinforcements. Karkare wanted to storm Cama from the front side, but they waited for a long time and none came. I think in a state of a battle, you can't fault people who are fighting the battle. They were on the spot and they took a decision to enter Cama. We should not find fault with them. I think the panel should have looked into the log books. I think it is a very incomplete report," he said.
Toral Varia said, "We have spoken to some sources who tell us that Maria's office says Ashok Kamte's operator misled the control room when he called on three occasions and said that there was firing but that no one was injured. Maria is now clinging to this, hoping that the government will defend him, keeping the call records in mind."
Did officers have inferior bullet-proof vests and was there a lack of support?
The Pradhan report has clearly said that the Mumbai police was ill-equipped to take on the terrorists, nor were the intelligence systems good enough. The Mumbai Police was severely handicapped during terrorist attacks on the city on November 26 last year because it lacked weapons, bulletproof jackets and communication equipment, says a committee probing the government's response to the attacks.
The supervision and coordination of the police force and the infrastructural support was of poor and inadequate, says the Ram Pradhan committee's report.
Jiten Ahwad says, "I think there should be another committee to look into this now."
MN Singh said, "The role of officers at the mantralay should also be looked into - as far as equipping the police force goes, be it bullteproof jackets or in terms of arms and ammunition. If the DG of the state police says he was running short of ammunition, then the matter should be taken very seriously. This needs to be looked into by experts. When Kamte was stationed under me, he was asked to test bulletproof jackets and he had given a report saying they were inferior. It's ironic, that he was in a situation where he was forced to wear this inefficient jacket."
Was there a glaring intelligence failure?
B Raman said, "There were six intelligence alerts on terrorists using sea route. Coastal security continues to face hurdles. And then in August 2008 there was an alert which specifically stated Taj, Oberoi hotels were targets, but the Hotels did not implement certain advice. Something needs to be done."
Is the Ram Pradhan report a dud?
Jiten Ahwad said, "There should be now a full fledged committee looking into all the matters right from an intelligence report. I am shocked by all these revelations. All these things need to be probed. There should be a full-fledged, complete enquiry."
He said that it was the prerogative of the Cabinet to decide what documents should be made public or not - especially if it is in connection with the security of the nation.
"Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil said to me that the pages which speak of the security of the country do not need to be made public," Ahwad said.
MN Singh said, "I agree with the Ram Pradhan Committee report in many areas - there was no conspiracy in deaths, there was failure of intelligence and the police top brass botched up. However, I feel the Centre should appoint a panel and get an expert report on all points in the report. I think people should be taken into confidence and proper steps should be taken to make sure another attack like this does not place ever."
B Raman concluded the debate by saying, "I think we need a post-9/11 like report with recommendations. I think the public have a right to know. There is no national security involved in bringing the report out to the public and that your channel has done a great service to the nation because people need to know. We need a comprehensive, fresh enquiry now. Accountability must be fixed. The Ram Pradhan report cannot be a conclusion to the 26/11 attacks."
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