The attacks on Mumbai on 26 November 2008 brought home to Indians the full
horror of terrorism. It also brought home, quite literally, the change in the
contemporary face of war. War today is no longer confined to battle fields; it
is right here. How is India equipped to deal with this menace which has been
described as an ‘ultramodern, and a very traditional, conspiracy’?
In this collection of essays, nine eminent experts—strategic analysts and
military historians—examine, among other issues, the capacity of India’s police
and paramilitary forces to deal with well-equipped, meticulously planned terror
attacks, the army’s ability to transform its ‘reactive mode’ to a