Updated: Thu Nov. 27 2008 11:46:36 PM

CTV.ca News Staff

Indian security forces have assaulted a besieged Jewish centre in Mumbai where heavily-armed militants are believed to be holed up in, along with about 10 Israeli hostages according to local media reports.  

Snipers in buildings around the headquarters of the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch began laying down cover fire early Friday while a helicopter hovered overhead, dropping eight or nine black-clad commandos on to the roof.

Commandos also dropped "thunder flashes" or smoke bombs to cover their assault.

The fighting occurred after grenades were tossed from the building towards anyone approaching it. That happened three times in four hours.

The assault began at dawn, following a tense night that saw six trucks full of soldiers surround the building.

The BBC is reporting that the commandos are slowly going floor-by-floor in the five-storey building to avoid killing any hostages.

But more than two hours after the commandos entered the building, there was no word on the health of the hostages.

Some hostages escaped from the building on Thursday -- including the two-year-old son of a rabbi -- but it was believed that more remained inside, along with an unknown number of heavily-armed terrorists.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor told reporters in India Friday that fighting was nearly at an end.

The Times of India reported earlier that in a first, India was refusing to negotiate for the hostages' release. Instead the country is following the lead of Israel and Russia, who do not negotiate with terrorists in hostage situations.

Indian commandos appear to have regained control of two luxury hotels in Mumbai. At least three more terrorists were killed in the room-by-room operation.

Indian television station CNN-IBN said the commandos "encountered stiff resistance from the terrorists who were heavily armed and well entrenched inside."

Hostages were taken out of the hotels all night by soldiers and fires in the building were put out by early Friday morning.

A deadly attack

Coordinated attacks by a heavily-armed terrorist group Wednesday night in at least 10 locations in Mumbai have left at least 119 people dead and 288 injured.

Earlier on Thursday, reporters and witnesses described hearing gunfire and explosions near the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels, which were main targets of the terrorists.

There was also word that eight hostages had been freed from the Mumbai headquarters of a Jewish outreach group that was invaded by militants Wednesday night.

Witness have said that the terrorists were specifically targeting Americans and Britons in the attacks, which took place at the two hotels, a restaurant popular with foreigners, a train station and Jewish centre, and five other locations.

The previously-unknown group Deccan Mujahedeen have claimed responsibility for the attack but many security experts have called the group a red herring meant to throw investigators off track.

M.J. Gohel, a security expert in London, told CTV Newsnet "The Deccan Mujahedeen has never been heard of before, they could easily have called themselves the Toronto Mujahedeen or the London Mujahedeen or whatever."

Indian officials have hinted that they believe the attackers are from the Indian Mujahedeen, an Islamist terror group that has already killed over 100 people in India this year.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has suggested the terrorists were supported by elements outside of the country.

"It is evident that the group which carried out these attacks, was based outside the country, (and) had come with single-minded determination to create havoc in the financial capital of the country," he said.

Pakistan has condemned the attacks but warned India of accusing it of being behind them, saying doing so would "destroy all the goodwill" between the nuclear-armed rivals.

There have been numerous reports that the terrorists arrived via boat, and India seized two Pakistani vessels Thursday.

Six Canadians are believed to be among hostages still being held by terrorists and trapped in locations throughout Mumbai.

Canada's foreign affairs minister confirmed Thursday that two Canadians were injured in the deadly terrorist attacks.

'Despicable' attacks

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement Thursday calling the attacks "despicable and cowardly" and saying Canada condemns the violence.

He said Canada is supporting India in the fight against terrorism and Canada is working with Indian authorities to find and assist Canadians who may be affected by the attacks.

Earlier Thursday, Cannon confirmed Canadians were staying at the targeted hotels, but he provided few details.

Cannon also called the attacks "despicable" and said such violence only strengthens Canada's resolve to combat terror.

He said he spoke to India's foreign affairs minister Thursday morning.

"I relayed to him on behalf of the people of Canada my sincere condolences for those injured or killed in the barbaric Mumbai terror attacks," Cannon said.

"Canada stands united with India to combat all forms of terrorism. These attacks have strengthened our resolve to work together for the mutual security and prosperity of our people."

He said all of Canada's diplomatic staff in Mumbai are accounted for.

The Associated Press reported that Deputy Home Secretary Bitan Srimali confirmed Canadians, Americans, British, Italian, Swedes, Yemenis, New Zealanders, Spaniards, Turks, Israelis and a Singapore national were among those being held.

Canadians concerned about relatives in the Mumbai-area can call:

• Foreign Affairs hotline - in Canada: 1-613-996-8885 (collect calls are accepted)
• Foreign Affairs hotline - outside Canada: 1-800-387-3124

Maj.Gen. R.K. Huda told New Delhi Television that between 10 and 12 gunmen are hunkered down in the Oberoi Trident and the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, and the Jewish centre.

Tension and fear continued to grip Mumbai on Thursday as hostages, as well as dead bodies, began to emerge from the Oberoi Trident luxury hotel as Indian commandos worked to free captives.

CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief Paul Workman, reporting from Delhi, said Mumbai is used to violence, but not on this scale.

"There have been a lot of attacks in the city ...for many years. I think it will bounce back but I think the country itself is in shock that people using relatively crude weapons -- grenades and handguns -- could essentially take the whole city hostage and cause so much havoc."

Comments are now closed for this story

Michelle
My husband is over there (he is safe for the moment). Thank you very much to all the stupid companies who have bled Canadian jobs to dangerous, impoverished, places like India to save a few cents and then you keep sending Canadians over there to train and supervise these workers and they need to put their lives at risk in order to keep their jobs. The thanks my husband will probably get is an eventual pink slip telling him his job is now going to someone over there.

Jimmyjimangus
Once again "men" have demostrated their unwillingness, inability and/or arrogance to work toward peaceful solutions. Once again, it is the innocent, the unlucky and the unknowing who are caught in the middle.
Both sides, government and terrorists, are to blame for this outrage. Both are dominated by men who have staked their claims, drawn their lines in sand and thrown sanity to the wind. Once again, the sensible, grounded and peaceful people pay the price!! ...

Stephen from Montreal
I know this may have nothing to do with the topic directly but...this will happen in Canada. If our leaders spent as much time and consideration on immigration as they have on the economy, education, our health care system or the economy then I am sure that a few bad apples have gotten in and it should come as no surprise.

joe schmo
It has happened before and we let them off..the Air India bombing

Dennis
This should take care of the people that doubt that there is a war on terror. There are a quatity of people in Canada that are slated to be deposed but law enforcment either do not have the ability or desire to round them up and turf them.

Simon Shaw
Once again religion has brought death and mayhem to the world. Is it not about time that we as a world community come together and ban religion on a world wide basis. Religion is just another word for intolerance.

Yisrael
Why are these 'people' not called terrorists instead of 'militants' ? Perhaps they are really glorious freedom fighters defending their inalienable rights to whatever. The West is in decline, and this is just a small symptom of it.

ziad montreal
another example of not repairing conflicts right away just like the palestinian issue ,kashmir is another hot spot that needed to be fixed from long time ago so no one can make any excuse to do such terrorists act !! but there is always " BUT"
ps: this attak came at the same time india is meeting more with arab countries leaders " lately mr. husnei mubarak from egypt " ,and strenghtening economic relations with them any conection here ....for you to decide ..

kijjd
Religon is and always has been the biggest cause of war and death in the world for thoughs who don't belive me just pick up any history book and start reading.

As for this currant event maybe it will wake people up maybe it won't but all should know that the war is real and loseing it is not an option

kate
Before you blindly believe everything the biased Western media tells you - perhaps you should read some Indian papers. Some are saying this has to do with Kashmir and the injustices there. Also Mumbai is a slum - the gap between the rich and the poor over there is beyond anything any of us in our cushy homes here in Canada could ever imagine. When you repress people for generations, eventually they feel they have nothing to lose and don't mind dying for a cause - any cause. It's easy for us to be judgemental as we live a live of luxury compared to theirs. Until we deal with poverty on a global basis, the down trodden will always find a reason to fight, they have nothing to lose.

laval
This is really sad. There are 108 people dead and 900 injured. The terrorists used same tactics as in Kabul, Afghanistan, also in a well-known hotel with high security.



Secondly in Islamabad, Pakistan, an attack on yet another well-known hotel which killed many people.



Now Mumbai, India. The U.S. NATO along with India should open their eyes and realize what is happening here and send troops into Pakistan's border and destroy all the terrorist camps that are flourishing there under the protection of the Pakistani government. How many more must suffer and die while the world leaders sit by and watch the chaos that these terrorists are unleashing worldwide.

SK Freedom Lover
So, getting a muslim Pakistan and Bangladesh wasn't good enough for some people...this is a nice illustration of their true goal - world domination with the 'infidels' as sub-human...are we still whining about this just war?

Eric
For those people constantly ragging on religion being the cause of nearly every war.

Alright, we turf religion. What? You think all war will stop? No. Religion is a pretense for wars of greed, arrogance, outright dislike of the other side, etc. It's rarely the -real- cause. Even the Crusades were no doubt wars of greed fought under the pretense of religion so the papacy could assure the masses would rally around the cause.

If you turf religion, wars will still be fought, hostage situations will still occur, people will still be killed by other people and so on.

So seriously. Stop it. It got old twenty years ago. I'm religious and have yet to start a war, participate in a war, or even start a fist-fight in the name of religion. If all you can come up with is "Religion is bad because all wars are because of religion" next time, maybe think about not writing a comment.

Seriously. And then you say Christians are the judgmental ones.

Steve in Ottawa
To Simon Shaw: Your comment "Once again religion has brought death and mayhem to the world" is not supported by the facts. Islamic radicals are a very small percentage of the Muslim population. They are in fact really anarchists. An anarchist is someone who believes in himself but not in the social order or a higher being, God. Paradoxically, jihadists are attacking the "religion" that they hate the most, Western secularism. The attacks by these groups have all been against high profile economic targets and the economic centers of power. This is truly a war by anarchist jihadists against secular economic institutions. They have a complete contempt for the world social order and that is why they will not hesitate to kill innocent people and in fact target them in public areas such as train stations. Violence and fear are the currency of anarchism. This is really not a war in the true sense, but is rather a global crime by individuals who have reached the height of selfishness. Secondly, most charities in the world are religiously based or were started for religious reasons by religious people from all major religions. They did so because they believe in a higher authority, God. Your statement that blames this on religion, implying all religions, is just plain wrong.

Ashish Tiwari ( Toronto)
I don't think this incident has any thing to do with economic disparity of muslims in India. In India there is a significant percentage of poor class people of different religious faith and not everybody from that class are involved in such activites. Second thing whenever detailed investigations had been carried out into this kind of incident it had been found that many of the educated and upper class citizens are involved in the conspiracy of the incident. Therfore, i don't think the incident has anything to do with discrimination or economic disparity of muslims in India.India is the country which provides equal rights to all citizens irrespective of the religious faith infact some of the extended privileges are given to the minorities. This incident is not the result of upset and angry minority of India but it is one more episode of global terrorism to prevent India from emerging as a significant ally in resolution of many of the global issues.

Matt
This should be taken as a warning of the threats that exists and we need to make Canada as Secure as possible.

Peter
To Yisrael, for the record, they did call them a "a domestic terror group." And I personally think what we're seeing is not the decline of the West... maybe just a bump.

linda aube
its sad to say but these third world countries are always going to be at war with each other because this is how they have survived for years its their upbringing

Shocked in NB
This is nuts. I cannot swallow that this is all over a "group" being discriminated against or the economic decline in the world. there is simply no excuse for this and I wouldn't even consider the persons doing this human. I have a hard time understanding what outcome the attackers expect. Killing a bunch of people who have nothing to do with the "groups" problems. IF you ask me they are acting selfish and are basically under developed in social skills.

Zac @ Regina, Sask
Blah blah blah... Sure, religion may not be the *cause* of the war/fight/terrism but a lot of people do *hide* behind the religious front of righteousness.

Maybe if you were to start banning religions that participate in wars (and Christian "religions" have been behind 2 world wars don't forget)... perhaps people might just have to admit that they are fighting/killing/doing-terrible-things all for that new SUV or big screen TV.

Make religions live up to their ideals or make them go away.

Then perhaps the news will say "14 people killed today in an economic event" instead of "14 people killed today by anti-millitant government forces" (and yes... I am explicitly avoiding any "islamic terrorist" crap so many spew)

BradtheAtheist
Maybe Religion itself is not the cause of all wars, but Religious Difference. The "my God is more right than your God" standpoint. There is no way religion could ever be banned. People are free to use their imaginations and thoughts, and that will never change. The problem lies in what some people think their imaginary friend in the sky is telling them to do.

Dan in Regina
Oh my, who writes here? The outgoing Bush Administration lap dogs? It's always easy to point the fingers at immigration but frankly that is not the problem, especially in this case. If anything, Canada needs immigration in order to even survive the future labour shortages. Canadian attacks will happen when the gov't starts spending more money policing the world instead of our own soil and I'm sad to inform you that this is already happening in Canada. I think the problems in India are caused by local cultural problems which have gotten world attention and thanks to the media, a local issue has distorted itself into a global issue.

Liz
To Simon:

"Once again religion has brought death and mayhem to the world. Is it not about time that we as a world community come together and ban religion on a world wide basis. Religion is just another word for intolerance."

Yes, what is going on in Mumbai is deplorable. That it is going on in "the name of" religion is also deplorable. However, Mujadeen groups are fanatical extremists, not your regular religious observers. Therefore, to broad-brush the whole of the world's religions with one fell swoop actually shows your intolerance. Tricky stuff this tolerance/intolerance thing.

As noted at the end of the article, ""There have been a lot of attacks in the city ...for many years." and "A similar group, the so-called Indian Mujahideen, has carried out its own attacks over the past year, though mostly using bombs rather than armed attackers, and not specifically against tourists, as in Wednesday's attacks,". Did we hear about those? I don't recall. This is getting attention because foreigners are being targeted and now other countries HAVE to get involved. If you were a "religious" person, I would say to pray for the safety of the innocents, but since you're not ... well, I don't know what you can do. Hope, maybe.

J.C.
It is not religion that causes these acts, but rather those criminally inclined who use religion as an excuse to commit such acts.

Rob
Jimmy, give it up!!! If you were the PM of Canada or the President of the U.S. or the head of the high council of India, would things be better??? If you think they would be then you're full of yourself! Rebellion is... rebellion, it isn't stopped by good or evil leaders. One example of a wonderful country living the dream of no government: Somalia.

Jey
India gained only enemies around it's border. Pakistan, Nepal, China, Bangaladesh and even now Sri Lanka, It has never wanted to be their friends. This is outcome of it's bad foriegn policy. Unless India works with it's neighbours, This problem will never go away.

Andy
They are just practicing for the big one. That one will be on our shores. I just wonder how left wingers will spin this to be our fault again like when big oil and Bush attacked on 911

Victor in Vaughan
Religion is not the cause of hatred in the world.

For folks that believe such a lie it shows your lack of respect for those that are different than you, and you folks are no better than these terrorists.

This may surprise people, but murder was around before Jesus and Mohammed.

Theo St.
People really need to think twice before they travel to places like this. Nevermind whatever "worldly" experiences they hope to encounter. There's a war going on, and Westerners are targets. There are very volatile, high-risk areas around the world. It doesn't make sense to go there in times like this.

New World
Eric, you make a good point.

Would a world without religion be a world without war? No. As you said greed, arrogance, outright dislike is not only owned by religious groups… any group of any kind has these attributes (i.e. Conservatives & Liberals, Marxists and Capitalists).

It's labels that ties us to any particular group that is the root cause of war. Being Canadian makes us feel superior to certain other nations(groups) and we are willing to fight and die to be Canadian. Well, do you know what? We are not the only ones that are willing to die for our convictions.

Religion is just another group that we are willing to fight and die for, and you may never have personally fought for your religion… but others have and are. And I for one would be glad to just get rid of this one group to start, then tear down the walls separating other groups from each other. But alas… why we have groups to begin with is that we have strength in numbers.

It's the rise of the terrifying Roman Empire
A lot of people are falling into a "Roman Empire" type of response to these violent eruptions. In fact, the Roman Empire is on the rise and has already stretched its tentacles into all nations including Canada. European leaders are going to be spending a lot of time in the Middle East in the years to come.

Mark T
Jimmyjimangus, why do you say that the government is to blame?

Murray from West Nipissing
... It is simple. There is just a monstrously huge gap between the have and have not countries of the world. The inequality and injustice that exists in much of the world would make your stomach turn. Most Western people bury their heads in the sand. Until the powerful people of the world develop the courage to stand up for injustice there will be violence. Extremists are to blame for their actions and deserve consequences. WE are to blame for doing nothing to solve the ills of the world. We have the money and resources, WE do not have the will to sacrifice our comfortable place in the world. Shame on our leaders and OUR lethargy regarding change. Maybe as a "Christian" society, we should actually do as Jesus taught.

Leslie
Many comments here suggest banning religion as a means to work towards world peace. How, exactly, would you ban religion? The Soviets tried it - the church was still there when communism fell. The Chinese are trying it - there are many underground religious groups in China.
Many people in the West have decided that organized religion is irrelevant to their lives, but this is not true of the followers of Islam. We are going to see incidents like this in Canada if we do not stand up to terrorists and keep the militant sects out of our country. This includes not just the ones with the guns and the suicide bombs, but the ones who support them financially. The representatives of the Muslim faith here in Canada should not only be loudly renouncing the acts of their fellow religionists but following that renunciation with action by keeping those who preach violence against the 'infidels' out of the their mosques. Anything less is tacitly endorsing the actions of the terrorists

Lost Cause
Dennis said "This should take care of the people that doubt that there is a war on terror."


Absolutely right. The only solution now is to send multiple armies in, along with a shadow army of mercenaries that are totally immune from regional prosecution, bomb the crap out of the place, depose the government, put in a ruler that is friendlier to the west that we won't listen to unless he says what we want to hear, and then to stay and occupy India indefinitely to the cost of countless civilian casualties. That'll show those terrorists.

And those damn immigrants here in Canada! Let's go back 500 years and kick everyone out of Canada that wasn't originally from here! They're going to cause problems for the locals! It's only a matter of time!

Seriously, let's hope cooler heads prevail here and that India's security forces can get this horrible situation under control without anyone else getting hurt or killed.

Steve in Aylmer
So what do you suppose this country would look like if Native Canadians felt that such violence was an acceptable measure to expressing their anger and feeling discriminated against and face with such great economic disparity as Muslims in these regions.

Heck, if they choose to protest by shutting down a highway, the government sends in the army.

You should be so lucky thats all they do.

Murray from West Nipissing
Ignorant people. Maybe we should debate the 400+ years of Western manipulation of the world during the colonial period that created the social, economic and political situation that exists in the third world today. Ethically, we need to support justice, and economic and political stability worldwide. Our economic system still benefits from colonialism. Western depression of the world prices, people earning unsustainable wages. This exists to make US rich. I will never approve of violence, however, it is understandable why most people hate the Western world. I have read a lot of high and mighty, judgemental comments. WE need to take owvership of our wealth and support those, on whose backs, we were able to have it.

Michelle
Both rich and poor, educated and uneducated, male and female, young and old, from all ethnic backgrounds participate in acts of terrorism. Sometimes they do it for religious beliefs, sometimes for political ones. The answer to such behaviour lies in the human brain and not with simple external factors like wealth and poverty. Religion, by the way, is a creation of humanity and serves to fill our needs, whatever they may be. People more often use religion to inspire them to be kind, generous and peaceful. It is not religion but how people use religion.

Oggie
Murray from West Nipissing, you're much too intelligent to be posting here.

Canada is just another United States, filled with dull, boorish and ignorant people who live in a fantasy world that's starting to fall apart.

Faramir
And I thought this would actually be a wake up call to the "Blame the West" crowd that there really are Islamists out there trying to kill us and the Indians - but reading this thread I have learned this once again isn't the fault of the Mad Mohammeds, but our fault. Thanks for enlightening me - white guilt has no limits eh?

Keep up with your excuses for the religion of pieces.

Kelly
GET THOSE INNOCENT CANADIANS OUT OF THERE!! I HOPE OUR GOVERNMENTS IS DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!!

Brian
Is this what we are looking at,,,so called free trade,, Our government is totally out of touch

Kram
Dan in Regina cimments:
"If anything, Canada needs immigration in order to even survive the future labour shortages."

If the Canadian governement spent as much much money on promoting having families in Canada instead of on immigration there would not be a labour shortage!! Instead the government chooses the opposite (by adding taxes and by allowing daycare to be very unafforadable except for in Quebec WHERE EVERY CANADIAN TAX PAYER PAYS to have Quebec daycare reduced to a very affordable rate of $7/Day!!). BC's average rate is $50/day.

Mark T
And what exactly can our government do? Let's just hope they bring in the British SAS or US Navy Seals to put an end to the situation. They have been trained specifically for events like this.

MR
I've heard Mujahideen (kind of rebel group) at the border on India and Burma. Are they the same? Religion itself is our faith and is good; extremists are the problem. And the islamic community does not do enough to condemn those.

MHB
My heart goes to the families of those who lost loved ones or are having a family member as a hostage. What is happening in India requires more than a shallow analysis. Many minorities are feeling they are under pressure from the Hindu majority. Few years ago, 3,000 muslims were massacred in the state of Gujjarat by Hindu fanatics with complete support, as indicated by an official Indian report, from state authorities. More recently, Christians and churches were attacked and burnt and the Pope condemned these attacks. There were many articles published in Western media in the past few years warning that the biggest democracy on Earth is converting slowly into an oppressive state. It is not normal that some minorities can not find jobs in the Government or in the private sector just because they are not Hindu!. The equation is pretty simple: Oppression leads to hate and hate leads to violence and terrorism. This equation has nothing to do with religion or with ethnicity. I hope that India would be able to restore its reputation and cross the gap with its minorities otherwise we are bound to have more of this blind and evil violence!.

MTS
It is hard to imagine that people want to blame religion on all the worlds problems. There are millions of religious people who live on this planet who are not to blame for the woes but rather add many good blessings to those in need and then more.
People are selfish, greedy, lustful and want power and those people will use any means possible to obtain this and that it means they will also use religion to further their desires.
History has shown that banning regilion has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people and this is in the last century and a bit alone.
Stalin, Lenin, Hilter, Mao, Pol Pot etc, all tried to elimate religion and look at the end results. When man tries to eliminate a power high than themselves that means he is the ultimate authority and that can and has resulted in disasterous results.
World War 1 and 2 were not the result of Christians. Please read history from more than one view point. You will be surprised at what you learn.
Bottom line, humans are the problem and peace will not come unless we are properly educated learn to work together.

Roger the Grey
Simon Shaw (and others who agree with him):

In case you did NOT notice, your comment that "we as a world community come together and ban religion on a world wide basis" PROVES that even ATHEISTS like yourself are just as INTOLERANT as SOME of the religious FANATICS you condemn!

In fact, there are several ATHEISTS throughout history who have proven themselves to be more INTOLERANT of others than the religions you (and they) condemned. Joseph Stalin (Stalinism), Karl Marx (Marxism), Adolph Hitler (Nazism), and the like were all violently oppressive and INTOLERANT ATHEISTS. Richard Dawkins and the like are also INTOLERANT ATHEISTS (whose attacks against religion in general, and Christianity in particular, are mostly fallacious ad hominem attacks).

In the end, an atheist world without religion would likely be worse than a world with religion because in an atheist world view there is NO real sense of ethical or moral responsibility or accountability to anyone. Within most religions, there IS (to varying degrees) that sense.

Everyone has a right to their own beliefs and to raise their children in accord with those beliefs; but to FORCEFULLY IMPOSE those beliefs on others AGAINST THEIR WILL is wrong. That INCLUDES ATHEIST beliefs.

If you want to be TOLERANT, it's fine to hold to your own beliefs and to DISCUSS your beliefs with others, but do NOT demand others to agree or IMPOSE it on others!

Glo
To Roger the Grey: Hear, hear! Very well said. Thank you.

John
Michelle, ...Glad your husband is ok, but the world is now a globalized economy and as much as India and other east asian nations are dependant on the west, the west is dependant on the east. Our lesson from this should be to focus on eliminating the terror threat to the world. India as a democracy faces the same terror threats as do the States and Canada. They are an ally of ours out there where we struggle with terrorists who want to directly attack our democracy, freedom and the western way of life, so to India we should be sympathetic in this situation.

Daniel, New Westminster
Many of you are right.. it has much to do with religion. Those of us that do not practise religion take responsibility for our actions where as many
religious people manage to justify their actions in some way that relates to their god or religion. If all Islamic terrorists knew that
they aren't going to a better place, but actually will be just dead, terrorism as we know it would not exist. Period.

Sask Prairie Boy
Kelly, NO Canadians are innocent...we all all cast in the same vicious net by these islamic thugs...we must defend our freedoms or they will be taken away...

Jack in Hamilton
I believe Simon's point was that Religion is beng used as a tool by fanatics to impose their will on everyone else. As long as the Religions of the world preach their individual superiority over all the others, religion will continue to be used as a tool or excuse to destroy. As for Atheists in the past who have been the perpetrators of much evil and suffering, the blame for their acts has nothing to do with their lack of any kind of religious belief. So let's cut the crap. Religious beliefs, or lack of thereof, has absolutely NOThing to do with morality, ethics, or compassion.

Kev in T.O.
Lack of education, general intolerance and reluctance to change leads to the breeding of terrorist groups. It has little to do with poverty. It has nothing to do with religion.

Norman, North Sydney
Please send JTF2!
with Canadians in trouble abroad, it's in their best interest to have Canadians working to free them and deliver them for danger. we were more than willing to send our elite troops to Iraq when the christian aid workers were in trouble....let's see the Harper government make the same wise move again. ...

Lee in Calgary
Dear Mark T,

I've know many members of the British, Australian and New Zeland SAS, many members of the US Navy Seals including a family member, many members of the US Army Delta Force and many members of the Canadian military's JTF-2 which is loosely modeled after the SAS. They are not only capable but very capable of doing everything their more famous cousins are renowned for doing. Should Canada be allowed by the Indian government to participate in the hostage rescue (which they won't be as the Indian's have very capable units of their own) the Canadian Special Operations Forces would serve us proud as they are currently but quietly doing in other parts of the world.

Andrew
For those who are supporting "doing away with all religion" it is exactly that type of thinking that has lead to some of the greatest tragedies of our time. It is exactly this type of intolerance that has lead to the events we see in India and around the world. Being self righteous does not mean your thinking is correct.

Jesterrnif Hgosha
The ugly face of bigotry shows up again, with people talking about immigration and jobs being sent overseas to India when such a tragic event unfolds. To those naturally prone to hate third world countries, Canadians live off jobs taken away from Americans in many fields and in any case Canada was built and sustained on the blood, sweat and tears of immigrants from all over the world. So take your petty hatred to some cult website and stop using this as an excuse to spew your vitriol.

GG
Interesting comments....everyone has their own opinions based on their own set of values. Ironically enough, this is probably what we are witnessing among the extremist radicals that are creating this fear and causing these tragedies...its interesting that these criminals/terrorists say that they are conducting their actions based on their interpretation of their religious beliefs. I think there are factions out there that are also seizing this opportunity for their own self interests.. called greed, corruption etc. At the end of the day this is a just a continuous repeat of history...and we have yet to figure out a way out of this box. There must be a way we can respect others beliefs without imposing on each other. This is why religion and politics/governance should never be mixed. The USA is based on the seperation of the two and there are other nations in the world that don't. It seems a natural source of conflict.

Brett
Well said, Murray from West Nipissing. Good to see that some people see what is really happening. As far as I'm concerned, Haile Selassie said it best " Until there are no longer first class & second class citizens of any nation, until the color of a mans skin has no more significance than the color of his eyes, until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race there will be WAR. Until that day the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship and rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting allusion to be pursued but never attained.

MuskyBuck
Kev in TO is the only post here that is both relevant to the story and accurate in synopsis.

Well done Kev!

CD
Religion HAS been the cause of wars thruout history. He worships a idol, lets kill them; thats a false god, lets kill them; they dont worship the right way, lets kill them; God gave me that land, lets kill them. Even Hitlers war was about religion. Even clans in Africa are religious based.

The Christian founded west is 1000 years ahead of the Muslums, we have learned tolerance. Everyone, people from around the world live in a single secular society. The problem with some of the Muslums is stated in my first paragraph.

If God wanted us to be goat herders for all of time, he would not of given us the ability to think and advance ourselves. The people doing this destruction are nothing more then cavemen. I pity them. Put them out of their misery.

Mark T
Lee,

If India's own commandos were as capable as the SAS when it comes to situations like this. It would've ended last night. They need help and they need it now. Don't you remember the Iranian embassy situation in 1980? Who came to the rescue?

CF
You're all forgetting that it is natural for us to destroy each other. We've been doing it before religion and we are still doing it now. It's the primal instinct in us to solve most of our difficult problems with physical action. We still think about it here as Canadains, wanting to hit someone for whatever reason but we don't actually do it (most of us).
There can't ever be world peace because we are not the same. This goes beyond religion, it's just the human condition at its fundamentals.

Exiled Canadian
Simon,

The worst killers in the world did not ascribe to any religious philosophy: Stalin, Moa, Hitler, Pol Pot were all atheists who are responsible for tens and tens of millions of deaths, all in the name of power.

I'm not saying that religion has never played a role, but "banning religion" is exactly what killers like I mentioned above have in mind when they go on their waves of killing. Stalin and Mao wanted to eliminate all religion, Hitler wanted to eradicate the Jews. The Islamist extremists want to have the world be eradicated of all other religions. It is the intolerance of religion that leads to these killings.

For those who still do not see it, this is part of a global war waged by the Islamist extremists. They were looking for American and British citizens to hold hostage. At the end of the day, everyone will see again the ties to Al Qaeda and the war on the west. This war is real and is long from over. 9/11 was just the first major attack. There will be many more unfortunately. This is the world as it is in the beginning of the 21st century.

Michelle, I hope that your husband will be OK and that you can be reunited shortly.

Prof. Pye Chartt
Darn. I thought this whole "War On Terror(ism)" thing was a trojan horse manufactured by crazy U.S. Republicans to infiltrate and dominate Muslim parts of the world and secure the flow of foreign oil.

Now I don't know what to think. Maybe it actually is a real, global problem that genuinely stems from extreme religious fundamentalism. Heck, I'm beginning to think that "9/11" might not have been a Hollywood movie after all.

The nice thing about being Canadian, though, is that we're completely insulated. Well, except when you travel abroad, I guess. (I'm sure we don't have any "evil doers" on our soil.) Anyway, not my problem. Good luck, hostages!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back inside my delusional bubble.

CF
The only way for humans to work together is if we were conquered by a greater species than humans and we are forced to work as their slaves. Our individual rights will be taken away and we will all be treated the same.

Carolina from the Ridge
Religion is personal and while it should unite you with your fellow worshippers in the temple, it should not divide you from everyone else in the world outside the temple walls. Perhaps the current economic crisis in the west will cause all of us to suffer enough to get back to showing simple human kindness and thoughtfulness of each other. We'll all be knocked down from our superior western "we deserve to have it all" pedestal.

Michael from Toronto
It is not religion per se which is the problem. The word "religion" is just a label.

I can come up with a scheme for a cult to control people for my personal agenda and call it a religion, just as any crafty person can. Some religions started as cults. You can identify them if you see them direct the actions of many to benefit the few. These are not necessarily big religions today's people know of.

So it is not religion but what the dogma (labeled as religion) actually declares which is important to discriminate. Some dogmas are indeed dangerous to the public.

People who label all religions as bad are simple-minded. They are the same people who would say all hospitals are bad because people died in hospitals from infections acquired from a simple operation. Or all blood transfusions are bad. Or all politicians are bad because some have bad reputations or that all Germans are bad because their country once gave rise to the Nazis.

People who say all religions are bad are purposely or unwittingly crippling the ability of Western societies to effectively deal with current issues of declining morality and loss of social responsibility. By denying religion, Western societies simply decay. This in turn fuels the hatred from external religious extremists who ascribe to violent religious methods to manifest their beliefs.

Secularists are killing Western societies.

Jeff
Emerging nations must increase their access to quality education to be on par with the west. To say we can solve this by recanting our lifestyles and throwing money at the problem is simplistic. It is in the best interests of those who wish to maintain absolute power to keep the masses ignorant. That is why so many attempts to set up education programs in these nations are met with violence (acid in the faces of schoolgirls). Those in charge often hide behind their interpretations of religion to justify violence to keep their hold on power. I know of no religion that is inherantly evil, I do know of many practitions who turn it to their own devices! Until stable governments emerge which advocate the separation of "church" and state and treat their own people with respect and equality, then these events will continue to occur under many contrived justifications.

Brian in Calgary
The human species is the only species capable of self-reflection and thus arrogant enough to believe we are so special that some supreme, supernatural being or force must have created us and everything around us. Unless we are able to control the will to dominate and the urge to denigrate, if not kill outright, the other, then we are doomed.

Rapture
These people are not militants, they are terrorists plain and simple!!

This is a tragedy that is taking place over in India.

I for one believe that Canada should send a military representative there to at least know what is going on with Canadian citizens who are being held hostage.

If the Indians can't handle the situation, then our special forces from the JTF2 should be on the ground there to make an attempt to free our Citizens and other innocent civilians who are caught up in this mess.

Ani
India is not an impoverished country. Just because a bunch of crazy, enraged people decided to fire rounds doenst make the entire country dangerous. And if you still stick by ur narrow minded opinion, i would want to know what to think of the everyday random shooting in jane-finch in Toronto? does that make canada impoverished and poor as well? probably not because we cannot control the minds of all individuals living in a country.

sagacity
Very interesting to see all the comments on what the Canadian Government should do about this situation. So many great comments, mostly all intellectual. Imagine how difficult it truely is to make decisions in government. Is there an eventual threat to Canada? Could this happen here? I read alot of comments about the fed/psac agreement that most people were bashing the fed employees...but its these employees that are in immigration, screening new citizens, its these people in passport offices and border services trying to detect imposters from these countries travelling on stolen or lost passports, foreign affair officials domestic and abroad working the cases...but most citizens cry " cut the government employee salaries" cut the government workforce by 1/3...but give me faster and better service"
Yes our government drops the odd stink bomb on certian topics...but truely very difficult positions to be in. I don't envy their jobs in the least. I know this may be off the topic a bit, but I found it funny over the last couple of days the bashing and ideas of what the government should do...people are very narrow minded...

Pratik Parmar
Michelle, Glad to hear that your husband is safe. The terrorist attacks that happened in Mumbai is a very unfortunate event that nobody can predict. I can understand what you must have gone through till you got the news of your husband’s safety, but you are seeing things from one angle. I am from Mumbai and can tell that the cops and military here are working day and night to ensure that everyone is safe. Terrorism doesn’t see what place it is, it just strikes, be it India, US or any other country. You should consider yourself fortunate enough that you don’t see such things happening in your country. I wish you never do, because you cannot even imagine what it feels like when your neighbourhood is on fire. This is no time to criticise but to stand and pray for those who have lost their loved ones. Maybe you are mixing two reactions over here, one that of the attack and the other that possibly your husband might get a pink slip as companies are sending jobs to India. Even the terrorist think somewhat like this for some or the other reason and do such insane things, which I feel we should all condemn strongly.

Jeff
Rapture - most Canadian embassies have a Military Attache asigned to them. I do not know exactly what their duties are but I am sure that if the Ambassador or the Department of Foreign Affairs needs their assistance it is readily available.
Your solution of deploying our special forces to the area without being requested is neither a smart nor necessary option.

Jeff - Kingston

Alex (Toronto)
India's continued occupation of the Muslim region of Kashmir against the will of most of the people there creates a grievance. Unfortunately, Kashmiri militants supported by the government of Paksitan choose violence rather than peaceful protest and non-compliance. This only creates sympathy for the Indians and mistrust of the Pakistanis and Kashmiris, which delays resolution of the dispute. Someone needs to explain to the terrorists that they are not helping their cause. Governments having to deal with innocent civilians being killed will almost always choose security now and stability later. Muslims will be less welcome in Mumbai now, and India will strengthen its defenses in Kashmir, likely with Western assistance.

RJR
Would someone tell me WHAT Religion believes that killing innocent people is the way to the Heavens?

This is not about religion, terrorist only believe in TERROR and causing such to get their point accross.

This should all have been taken care of back in 2003, when the troops hit the ground again in Iraq. All boarders in and out of India , Pakistan, Afganistan, and Iraq should have been LOCKED down tighter then Fort Knox. Maybe that would have worked, or maybe not?

I just don't understand why we as Canadians want to even travel to these crazy sections of the world.

Kody
I think that these attacks are absurd, no individual has the right to end the life of another especially one of our troups.

Toronto77
Wow! What is with all of the religion-bashing atheists commenting on this article? Are people so ignorant that they need to make blanket statements that "all religions should be banned" as one commenter posted?

Religion has nothing to do with the degenerates who have committed these terrorist acts. There are Muslims that are good law-abiding, peaceful people and then there are the extreme ones that have taken what originally was Islam but have twisted the interpretation so much it cannot be called a religion. Therefore to those that say that religion is at the root of these events you just demonstrating how ill-informed you are. All perfect saints and prophets preach devotion to God, kindness to others, living a good moral life. Being religious, per say is an admirable quality in a person - it shows that they hold themselves to higher morals than the typical downfall of morality in society we see today.

If some of you haven't paid attention, Aga Khan (a billionaire Ismaili Muslim philanthropist) just recently visited BC). He is a spiritual figurehead for the Ismaili Muslim community, helped countless people in the world - so to those that complain that religion has caused so much suffering - think again.

Rather than religion, where the disgust/disappointment showed be directed is how far these people have taken what originally was Islam and turned it something that even the Prophet Mohammad wouldn't recognize as his teachings.

Finally, don't equate man's deformations of what were good teachings from saints/prophets into something that bears little resemblance to religion.

BTW: I am not of the Muslim faith. Nevertheless I felt compelled to reply on the offensive comments against religion in general.

GRIM
The simpleton that stated banning religion would solve the world's problems - give me a break. Conflict is about power, human beings in their base state will use any excuse to gain power over another, gender, religion, colour etc. Do you think regimes that banned relgion were free from conflict (soviet union etc)? No they used their atheism to gain power and repressed those that held to religion.

Religion does not cause conflict it is greed.

Josephine, Toronto
To those who think these attacks have nothing to do with religion: look up the meaning of the word Mujahedeen.

JimP
To CF
It is not in our nature to kill. This is why we are usually so discusted and frightened by it. The US Military figured this out during world war II (small % could actually shoot at someone) which is why they changed their training tactics (Vietnam) and why so many soldiers have major mental stress and problems when they come back to the real world. Canada is a melting pot of religion, races and ways of life. Killing and violence is not our way and I am hoping that a lot of the people who come to Canada to live have this same belief. As we do not have the type of killing that is presently going on everywhere, I believe this is happening. I still have hope.

Melody - Calgary
Regardless of whether this is about religion, politics or economics the fact of the matter is that a large number of innocent people lost their lives in the hands of some cowardly terrorists. With everything that is going on in this world we often become desensitized to horrific events. I think we should all take a moment and think about the famililes who have lost loved ones in such a brutal way. We should be thankful that we have not experienced something like this in Calgary (fingers crossed). God bless those who have lost loved ones and I hope they find the strength to get through this difficult time.