The terrorists achieved the high-profile publicity that they had been hoping for around the world and that was extended thanks to the incompetence of the Indian security authorities in bringing it to a swift resolution. But on two other counts the terrorists failed:  they apparently wanted to achieve a body count similar to that of 9/11, a goal on which they failed completely. Also, most important, they failed to ignite inter-communal tension in India. The Muslims of India sent the most profound signal of discontent at their disposal: the refusal to either bury their co-religionists or to pray for their souls.

'That's a very important message from them. At least they have shown their character. Most Muslims are poor, hoping for education for their children; they want jobs they're not interested in this rubbish,' said Sir Gulam Noon, the London-based 'curry king' who was caught up in the attack and has been mixing his calls for swift action to bring to justice those involved with attempts to look for the way forward. He is one of those taking comfort from the fact that there has been no communal violence in the aftermath of the attack.

For the longer term it seems fair to assume that the attackers have 'awakened a sleeping giant', for the Indian state will now surely re-order its security priorities and ensure that its intelligence operatives will, first of all, warn well in advance of any such future attack and second, will be well prepared to repel it if another one is mounted.
Despite suspicions as to the origin of the attack, Sir Gulam has a great appreciation for the Pakistani people giving great credit for their hospitalitywhich is matched by that in India when Pakistanis visit, he says,--and their generosity. So the notion of a mediation mission is not that fanciful.

His has been one of the few leading Indian voices heard on the international stage at a time when the Delhi government has seemed incapable not only of initiative and action but bereft of intelligence and ideas in tackling the problem. But then again, he has some firm ideas about how to deal with this curse of the modern age and most of them, at this time, do not involve mediation.

Sir Gulam is in the unique position for a man of his authority of having experienced the dreadful events at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay from inside the building as they unfolded and, more important, witnessed the police and commando operations at first hand at crucial times during the 61-hour siege of the iconic Indian landmark. Time and again he returns to that figure of 61  the interminable time it took to bring the terrorist attack to a conclusion.  He reflects that even with the despatch of British special forces to come to the assistance of the Indians from their English bases they could have ended the whole sorry saga in less time. That may be a little unfair on the Indian security forces since the attackers clearly had prepared with exceedingly detailed knowledge of the hotel interior  through 'sleepers' who were said to have been working at the famous hostelry. But it points to the need for Delhi's security forces to be similarly well prepared when seeking to protect other such sites in the future.

Several things about the attack   baffled him, Sir Gulam told Asian Affairs. 'With all the coast guards and the navy in the Arabian Sea how could 10 people enter Indian territory; and not only enter the territory but enter the city: no one was there to stop them! A complete failure of intelligence, no two ways about it.

'Secondly, the first line of defence for the public is the police; the commandos and all the others come later on. They were there with .303 rifles from the Second World War and one police driver  the police chief's driver  did not even have a weapon. He was driving the car in front of the one that carried the three top policemen who were killed. 'If I had had a weapon I could have killed the bastards, the driver said.''

The two sides were hopelessly ill-matched, said Sir Gulam. The terrorists trained to the highest standards and armed with the latest automatic rifles, AK47s that can fire a stream of 20 bullets with a single squeeze of the trigger, against policemen with Second World War technology. 'That pains people,' he said.

'If you don't have the technology; if you're not trained, why is the government so egotistical about not taking the help of Israel and Britain when it is offered? Britain could have done it in six or seven hours. We were under siege for 61 hours. This is not just a building; this is the heritage of India which has been my home-away-from-home for the last 28 years.'

Sir Gulam knows whereof he speaks because, being in a corner room, he was able to observe the comings and goings of police, commandos and the ambulances taking away the bodies of the dead and injured. He was most fortunate in that his elder brother Abbas brought food to his room from home, otherwise he would have been eating his supper, like so many others, in one of the country's most famous restaurants when the gunmen started raking it with bullets. For him it was a hellish nine-hour experience from which he was eventually rescued by firemen who cut through the windows on the side facing the sea and extricated the guests by crane.

But there must be a new drive to   tackle terrorism drawn from this horror, he believes, and that should be based on the United Nations drawing together a world force to fight the curse regardless of race, colour or creed. 'We should shout, scream and holler at the United Nations  forget about political differences; share the intelligence, share our strength with each other  and kill these people. A terrorist, is a terrorist, is a terrorist.'

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