On the day I arrived in Delhi last September, terrorists had set off bombs in markets across the city. The receptionist at the Taj hotel told me that they were advising guests to stay inside to avoid danger. The hotel felt like a sanctuary from the chaos outside. When I set off the metal-detector coming back into the Taj, the security guard just laughed and bowed deeply.
My next stop was the Taj Palace hotel in Mumbai – the scene of last week’s tragic killings and siege. At the time, there was next to no security. That looks bad now. But the sad truth is that you can have very tight checks at these hotels and still be vulnerable. I also stayed at the Marriott in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, earlier this year. All cars entering its driveway were checked for explosives. But a couple of months ago, it was still destroyed by a bomb that caused scores of deaths.
Experts on terrorism will be poring over the attacks on Mumbai, looking for lessons and ideas. Here are three. First, hotels are increasingly the targets of choice for terrorists. Second, south Asia rather than the Middle East is the centre of the problem. Finally, terror thrives off conflict: so provoking a war between India and Pakistan would count as a triumph for the people who attacked Mumbai.
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