On the day of the massive terror strikes in Mumbai on July 11, eyewitnesses described horrific scenes of utterly mangled train coaches, panicked citizens jumping out of running trains, and bodies thrown onto the platforms and tracks as high-intensity explosions ripped apart the first class coaches of seven different trains.
Miraculously, Mumbai—formerly known as Bombay—was back on its feet the next morning. All long distance train services resumed. Offices and schools were opened and local trains were running from each major train station, still jam-packed if not as much as the day before.
For the ordinary people in Mumbai, life has to go on.
"People are conscious of what has happened, but they would like their life to continue," said a commuter travelling in a first class train, the next morning after the blasts.
"What I saw yesterday, at the Matunga train station, has instilled in me this fear that it might happen again," said commuter Ashok Patil. "They want to cause tensions between Hindus and Muslims, but we are least bit affected. They have failed," he said, referring to the ongoing (yet unconfirmed) suspicions that Islamic extremists were behind the attacks.
But for the Mumbai police, it's everything but business as usual as they attempt to determine the culprits of the attacks, which left at least 186 dead and more than 750 injured.
In addition, many people are still looking for their loved ones, not knowing whether they are still alive, as the search for the missing continues. People from all of walks of life have volunteered to give blood for those injured, admitted at various hospitals across the city.
"High alert" has been imposed across the state of Maharashtra, focusing on crowed areas, supermarkets, VIP-areas and airports.
The sequential order of the attacks suggests a well-planned operation by a major terrorist group. The police confirmed the use of RDX, the powerful military explosive. The police suspect the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) and the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) militants as being behind the attacks.
The Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh condemned the terrorist acts as "cowardly attempts to spread a feeling of fear and terror among our citizens," urging people to be calm and vowed to take measures to maintain law and order.
"The citizens of Mumbai have faced a similar trauma more than a decade ago…We will work to defeat the evil designs of terrorists and will not allow them to succeed," said Dr. Singh in an official statement.
So far no groups have claimed responsibility. In fact, the Lashker-e-Toiba has rejected all suspicions aimed at the group.
Since 1993, Mumbai has been the target of bomb attacks sporadically. In March 1993, a series of bombs killed 257 and injured 1400. The attacks came in the after the demolition of a mosque by the Hindus in December 1992. Even then, no one claimed responsibility.
So, who are behind the Mumbai blasts, and what might have been their motive?
According to Mr. Stig Toft Madsen, Senior Researcher at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, the culprits may be linked with Pakistan, and may be Muslims with grievances over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
To shed light on the situation, Mr. Madsen referred back to the colonial times. When the British colony was divided into Pakistan and India, the issue of Kashmir was unsolved. Pakistan claims that India has no rights to occupy the southern part of Kashmir. Similarly, India claims that Pakistan has no rights to the northern part of Kashmir that they administer.
"Since 1987 the issue of Kashmir has been very prominent and has led to several wars between the two countries," said Madsen. "A number of Islamic groups in Pakistan, as well as some liberation groups in India have tried to mobilize their people to attack the Indian police and army, to get India out of Kashmir. There are a handful of such groups, and LeT is one of them."
"Sometimes the government of Pakistan or the army or intelligence service of Pakistan is favorably inclined to some of these groups," said Madsen. "After 9/11, the president of Pakistan has tried, to some extent tried, to rein in these groups, but he has not been very serious about it. There are still groups in Pakistan that can support terrorist activities in the neighboring country, India."
Looking inside India, extremist Islamic groups like the radical student group, SIMI are also capable of such actions, in collaboration with others, according to Mr. Madsen. "It is not such a complicated operation. I think explosives are available in the black market," he said.
On the same day of the attack, the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan issued an official statement that condemns the bomb blasts Mumbai. "The President and Prime Minister of Pakistan have also strongly condemned this terrorist attack and have expressed condolences over the loss of innocent lives," it said.
Yet while police and experts search for the culprits of these deadly attacks, local residents will continue to try find a way to understand and fully recover from the events.
Puspha Shetty, a regular commuter on the suburban local trains, was on one of the train coaches not directly impacted by the blasts. She says she saw "dismembered bodies" and utter chaos as she and her colleagues jumped out of the train coach she was in before leaving the scene.
Yet Shetty still believes that Mumbai can recuperate from the blasts and go back to a normal lifestyle.
"I will be very scared to travel by the trains now, but Mumbai has a way of bouncing back after a calamity," she said. "And I'm sure tomorrow people will take a local train as if this was just another forgotten nightmare."
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