Mumbai is a cursed city: former police commissioner

A year after the dreaded terror attacks killed about 180 people in Mumbai, the city is still in a grip of fear, said former police commissioner M N Singh.

Speaking at an event in Mumbai, the former commissioner said Mumbai "is cursed" and has always been vulnerable to terror strikes.

Singh said it was very difficult to declare if the city is safe or not.

"This city is cursed and vulnerable and no commissioner of police can guarantee its safety one hundred per cent," said Singh, shortly after the Mumbai Police Commissioner D Shivanandan had said he was doing everything to ensure that the city was safe.

Shivanandan had also said that his duty was to ensure that the city had more living heroes than dead ones.

The police commissioner had assured that he was doing his best to ensure that the city did not have nightmares such as 26/11 again, Shivanandan had said.

Mumbai has been a victim of several terror attacks, said Singh, and that it was highly vulnerable.

"It was attacked in 1993, 2003, 2006 and 2008. A citizen can get the guarantee only when he or she knows that the police is vigilant."

However, the police cannot do the job by itself, said Singh to the audience.

"The terror strike on Mumbai was like a military operation and the police are just not trained to fight in such a situation. It is unfair to expect policemen to turn into military personnel in such a situation. There is a need to create a commando force within the police so that they are better equipped to deal with a similar situation," said Singh.

He pointed out that the Mumbai police force is now better armed after the 26/11 attacks, however the force must also ensure that "the mindset of the ordinary policeman is changed".

The need of the hour is to ensure that every policeman is more alert.