Go catch the lurkers

The Mumbai massacre has left many questions unanswered, but we are going about as though we have already defeated the terrorists. Amid the gloom is this strange mood of self-congratulation among citizens, lawkeepers, and the media.

But everyone's pointing fingers at politicians. Heads in the government have rolled, and big ones at that. Home minister Shivraj Patil was the first to go, and then it was the turn of R R Patil, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister who famously said the attack, which has claimed close to 200 lives, was just one of those things.

Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh took a stroll inside the Taj with his movie star son Riteish and Ram Gopal Varma, a director who has built his reputation on slick films about the underworld. All of which has proved to citizens that politicians are crass, insensitive, and selfish.

That is perhaps why the resignations of the two Patils have received such applause. But is all this political drama obscuring more urgent questions, such as 'Where are the other terrorists who made that boat trip to Mumbai?"

From all accounts, the group that hijacked a dinghy and a boat and entered Indian waters had more men than the authorities can now account for. Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told a press conference about 20 men had come in. The police have one man in their custody, and the commandos have killed a handful who had stormed the Taj, Nariman House and CST, but where are the others lurking? And what are they planning?

Citizens are outraged by the massacre, and the anger against politicians is intense. Slain major Sandeep Unnikrishnan's father shooed away the Kerala chief minister when he came visiting to pay his last respects to Bangalore, and ATS chief Hemant Karkare's wife snubbed the Gujarat chief minister's offer of Rs 1 crore as a posthumous reward for his bravery. Text messages against politicians are making the rounds. No one, but no one, is in a mood to humour politicians.

Rediff has compiled a list of questions citizens are asking, and it is so comprehensive the investigators should pick it up and use it as a check list as they go about their work. MiD DAY reported yesterday that the jackets Mumbai's policemen used were no good. They had failed during the tests, and had not been able to stop a single bullet fired from the test rifles.

Two of Mumbai's much respected policemen -- Hemant Karkare and Ashok Kamte -- died because their vests did them in. Another senior policeman, Vijay Salaskar, reportedly never wore a jacket because he knew it couldn't protect him.

We should also use this opportunity to expose the enemies within, starting with the corrupt purchase officers who order supplies that endanger the lives of those on the battle front. The gravy train in most cases leads all the way up to the cabinet of ministers. It's not just terrorists from outside who are killing the best of our countrymen; it's our own greedy people in positions of eminence.