Are we such cowards?

As candle light vigils and hero-victim stories inundate newspapers and magazines, a chilling revelation by the Mumbai top cop who got shunted out after his mismanagement on that terror night hits us where it hurts hard.

In The Week, Hasan Gafoor has opened up about how some of his colleagues locked themselves up in safe zones instead of fighting for their city.

A section of senior police officers refused to be on the ground and take on the terrorists. By doing so, they chose to ignore the need of the hour.  Nothing more.

 He goes on to say further:

I told you there were a handful. For example, K.L. Prasad refused to come to the Trident and then decided against hitting the roads. Deven Bharti, K. Venkatesham and Parambir Singh did not appear keen on responding to the situation as it kept dawning on us...

..On November 28, I attended a meeting with the DGP and home minister. I was told to withdraw the NSG and instead use the Mumbai Police for the ongoing operations. The DGP told me that the entire world was watching us and so we should put an immediate end to the siege and help defuse the crisis.  This sounded ridiculous, as the NSG is an elite force that can tackle such crisis situations. I said it was preposterous to even think of taking off the NSG. I told the DGP that he could have a word with NSG chief J.K. Dutt, who was then camping in the city.

Imagine what was going on behind the scenes when we all watched the Taj dome go up in flames, when the country froze in front of TV sets, when those beasts of men went about pumping bullets into everyone, when the world was watching Mumbai!

True Mumbai police came under severe flak post 26/11, just as the Home Minister and Chief Minister were shown the door. Only, the details were not so stark. Today, the then Home Minister is back. As Home Minister. What a reward for not protecting his city then! As for the those who did not act, have we heard of anything in the name of punishment for those who evaded duty that night?

If there were cops like Hemant Karkare and Vijay Salaskar, not to forget Tukaram Ombale hit the streets, and died on duty, their own colleagues stayed holed up in dens, refusing to answer their phones!

And just a year after 26/11, Mumbai's Police Commissioner Sivanandan `admits' to procedural lapses on 26/11. He has apologised. What exactly does that mean? That an enquiry will bring an important piece of evidence back from somewhere in the air?

Are we such cowards that we allow our colleagues to die out there while we stay cozy in our dens? Are we such cowards that we let an evidence vanish into thin air and smugly apologise for it later?

All the screaming by India in the world arena becomes meaningless when her own men act so selfish, and turn the system to their advantage.

It's only a year on. Do not be surprised if these were cops get plum promotions on some other pretext in future.