Public Declarations and Remembrance for Those Killed in the Bhopal Tragedy

In 1984 something tragic happened in India.  

Atrociously enough, it was more tragic than the terrorist attacks in Mumbai that just occurred two weeks ago.  In the 1984 tragedy, the perpetrator was an American company located in Michigan called *Dow Chemical*.  And they *still have not cleaned up the chemical spill*...it still infests the groundwater and continues to poison the people that live there over twenty years later.

This blog post will first provide you a snippet of background information from Wikipedia page on the Bhopal disaster (*click here* to connect to the page).  

It will then provide you with a Public Declaration for Collective Action and accompanying press statement on the 24th Anniversary of Remembrance of this disaster submitted by Obama is America! blogger *GardensForPeace*.

*Click here* to connect to Dow Chemical's 'Contact us' page to submit a request that they clean up the mess in Bhopal, or to declare your anger at the human injustice their corporation has perpetuated.

Snippet:

The Bhopal disaster was an industrial disaster that occurred in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, resulting in the immediate deaths of more than 3,000 people, according to the Indian Supreme Court. A more probable figure is that 8,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that an additional 8,000 have since died from gas related diseases.^[1][2]

The incident took place in the early hours of the morning of December 3, 1984, in the heart of the city of Bhopal in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A Union Carbide subsidiarypesticide plant released 42 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing at least 520,000 people to toxic gases. The Bhopal disaster is frequently cited as the world's worst industrial disaster.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The International Medical Commission on Bhopal was established in 1993 to respond to the disasters.

PUBLIC DECLARATION OF REMEMBRANCE

Let us pray for the lives and health of these Global and Indian citizens so easily forgotten by the international media, and the international community. When we think about global citizenship, human rights, and the idea of the individual, how can we as an internationally community mourn foreign tourists killed in Mumbai, but so easily forget the truncated lives, poisoned environments, and daily deaths of Bhopal. What makes our society so enraged and inspired by 9/11, but so deeply disassociated from Hurricane Katrina. What makes the preservation of wealth more important than the preservation of life? 

At this moment we are at a critical junction  where global society needs to take decisive and immediate action to address the impending crises facing our world, and the dream of effective and immediate mobilization has been awakened to in the hearts of Americans and global citizens. However, to really create the change needed, we will have to to build a new generation, a new approach, and a new vision of priorities, morals and values to really move change. Change will come from the bottom up as can be seen by the way Obama's presidential campaign was conducted. But it must also come from the top down. Governments, big business, well-paid individuals need to re-evaluate key priorities critical for mutual societal benefit. Only when we work together, can real change happen in society and within ourselves.

We are at a critical juncture where we must collectively envision a better world, and actively work towards that goal. Primary in my vision, is the fundamental right to a healthy environment. We can no longer forget the lives fighting for justice in Bhopal and around the world. We must envision a sustainable society that does not rely upon the destruction of our environments to fuel our economies. This environmental destruction inevitably becomes a destruction of human life, dream and possibility that affects everyone living on this planet.

______________________________

December 03, 2008

Bhopal's 24th anniversary rally honours its own

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh 
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha 
Bhopal Group for Information and Action

December 3, 2008

*Press Statement*

On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster thousands of survivors along with neighborhood residents exposed to pollution from Union Carbide's chemical waste today marched in a rally to the abandoned factory that is the site of the world's worst industrial disaster. They burnt an effigy of Dow Chemical, the current owner of Union Carbide in front of the factory and held a public meeting where individual survivor activists were felicitated.

Leaders of the three organizations: Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Bhopal Group for Information and Action leading the 24th Anniversary rally warned the Central and the State governments that if the Empowered Commission for long term rehabilitation of the survivors and their children is not set up soon they will intensify their agitation in Bhopal and New Delhi.

They said that there were still over 100,000 people battling with chronic illnesses caused by Union Carbide's chemical poisons. Additionally an unusually large number of people are suffering from Tuberculosis, Diabetes and Hypertension and mental health problems as a consequence of toxic exposure. Government agencies such as the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies have reported that contaminated ground water is causing diseases of the lungs, eyes, skin and the digestive system in a population of over 25 thousand people living next to the abandoned factory.

Most worrisome is the fact of unusually large number of children in the affected communities with birth defects such as damaged brain, undeveloped limbs, cleft lip and missing palate and severe growth disorders. The organizations said that currently the government does not provide any help to thousands of children born with disabilities and the country's apex research body Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is yet top carry out studies on the effects on the next generation of Bhopal victims.

The organizations said that the state government has completely failed to provide economic and social rehabilitation to the victims and has caused more harm than good in the matter of the thousands of tones of hazardous waste dumped in and around the abandoned Union carbide factory. They said that they have a lot of expectations from the Empowered Commission on Bhopal for sustained medical, economic, social and environmental rehabilitation and they will not tolerate any delay in its setting up.

The organizations said that the support given to Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals by the governments of USA and India is the main cause for continuing injustice in Bhopal. Warren Anderson and the authorized representative of Union Carbide are still absconding from the criminal case on the world's worst industrial massacre. Violating principles of 'polluter pays' and that of 'successor liability' that are established both in USA and India, Dow Chemical continues to deny liability for the toxic contamination of soil and ground water in and around the factory in Bhopal.

On 3rd Dec hundreds of gas affected survivors and people affected by water contamination will stage a massive rally from Bharat Talkies to the infamous Union Carbide factory. Survivors' organisations will hold a public event to felicitate people who contributed significantly to the victory of the 2008 Bhopal to New Delhi Padyatra. Replicas of the iconic mother-and-child statue commemorating the disaster, and citations will be handed over to more than 100 people, including children who participated in the Padyatra.

Indian Muslims Protest Terrorist Attacks in India

Not all terrorists are Muslim and not all Muslims are terrorists!!!!  Everybody suffers from terrorism, and nobody wins! 

THE HATE NEEDS TO STOP!

Today's blog post has 3 sets of information:

1.  A poem by Sufi poet *Rumi* on God.  *Sufism* is a form of Islam.  Like any of the world's major faiths, there are multiple ways to practice Islam.

• A note on Sufism:  The current War on Terror has probably made a lot of people aware of the term Jihad, or Holy War.  In Sufism, Jihad would be defined as an internal struggle - a battle against forces that would seek to do bad, or work evil through you.  Just like the Christian faith, not everyone interprets religious definitions literally.
  

2.  An article on the protests against the attacks in Mumbai, India by Indian Muslims.  You can access this article directly by *clicking here*

3.  An article about how Muslims around the world condemn the attacks in India, and are worried about the negative impact these attacks have on them and thier faith. You can access this article by *clicking here*.

Where is God?  

By Rumi

I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He

was not there; I went to the Temple of the

Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not

find a trace of Him anywhere.

I searched on the mountains and in the valleys
but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I
able to find Him. I went to the Ka’bah in Mecca,
but He was not there either.

I questioned the scholars and philosophers but
He was beyond their understanding.

I then looked into my heart and it was there
where He dwelled that I saw Him; He was
nowhere else to be found.

Muslims denounce Mumbai attackers as enemy of Islam 8 Dec 2008, 0206 hrs IST, Roana Maria Costa & Mohammed Wajihuddin, TNN

MUMBAI: Outraged at the recent terrorist attacks on Mumbai and terrorists who have painted a distorted image of Muslims in the name of Islam, hundreds of Muslim men, women and children publicly denounced all the killers of innocents as enemies of Islam on Sunday. The protesters, which included several members from Bollywood, also said that the enemies of India were enemies of Muslims too.  On Sunday afternoon, a silent march of the Muslims started from the CST station, one of the places the terrorists had chosen to create mayhem on 26/11, winding its way through Churchgate to the sea-front near the Oberoi-Trident. Similar protest walks, condemning terrorist outfits like the Al Qaeda, Taliban, ISI, LeT and SIMI and Huji were simultaneously held in cities like Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Indore, Hyderabad and Delhi.  "We disown and denounce all those who kill in the name of Jihad. Terrorists are fascists and enemies of Muslims since Islam doesn't preach killing of innocents," said poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar.  Akhtar said 26/11 attacks were unprecedented and were attacks on the dignity of the country. "Fascists are those who distort religion. There are bad elements in all religions. On 26\11 they didn't just place bombs and run, they entered our buildings, killed people and held hostages. No religion preaches killing of innocents," he said.  26\11 has changed the psyche of Indians, he said. "For the first time I've seen tears in so many eyes, people with so much grief," he said.  Perhaps for the first time liberal Muslims were joined by the clerics coming from organisations like Jamiat-ul-Ulema in expressing their anger against the terror outfits who have hijacked Islam. Actor-TV anchor Javed Jaffri said the Muslims had to speak out openly because after all it's Islam which is being maligned. "There is nothing called Islamic terrorists. Islam is being misinterpreted by some groups. They kill people in the name of jihad. A religion which asks its members to greet each other with Assalamu Alaikum (peace be with you) could never sanction killing of innocents," he said.  The rally walked the streets of Mumbai through DN Road, Hutatma chowk, passed by Churchgate station and ended near the Oberoi- Trident. Slogans like " Killers of innocents are enemies of Islam", "Our motherland's enemies are our enemies ", "Declare Pakistan a terrorist state" and "Close terrorists camps at once" were some of the slogans which screamed out from banners and placards.  Javed Anand of Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD), the man who had galvanised several groups and individuals for the Sunday's peace march, said that for too long the terrorists had exploited the name of Islam and it is the duty of every Muslim to call the bluff of individuals and organisations who spread terror and violence in the name of Islam.  Actor Farooq Sheikh voiced similar opinions. "Terrorists are Muslims' number one enemy," he said.  Ad-man and activist Alyque Padamsee, who was instrumental in getting the famous Deoband fatwa against terrorism a couple of months ago, said there were two kinds of Muslims: Real Muslims and fake Muslims. "Terrorists are fake Muslims while peace-loving tolerant Muslims are real Muslims," he said. "99.9% of Indian Muslims believe the Quran which says killing of the innocents is wrong. Those who don't believe it are naqli (fake) Muslims," he said. "Committing suicide is a sin in Islam, so how can a suicide bomber believe he would go to Jannat (paradise)," he said.

Muslims Condemn Mumbai Attacks, Worry About Image

By Karin Laub , Associated Press    Published on 12/1/2008

Total 1 images.   By Associated Press Indian Muslims protest against the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Ramallah, West Bank - Muslims from the Middle East to Britain and Austria condemned Sunday the Mumbai shooting rampage by suspected Islamic militants as senseless terrorism but also found themselves on the defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion. Intellectuals and community leaders called for greater efforts to combat religious fanaticism. Indian police said Sunday that the only surviving gunman told them he belongs to the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group is seen as a creation of Pakistani intelligence to help fight India in the disputed Kashmir region. Another group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, has also operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida. Ten gunmen attacked 10 targets in the three-day assault including a Jewish community center and luxury hotels in India's commercial hub. More than 170 people were killed. Many Muslims said they are worried such carnage is besmirching their religion. ”The occupation of the synagogue and killing people in hotels tarnishes the Muslim faith,” said Kazim al-Muqdadi, a political science lecturer at Baghdad University. “Anyone who slaughters people and screams “Allahu Akbar' (God is Great) is sick and ignorant.” In Britain, home to nearly 2 million Muslims, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, Inayat Bunglawala, said that “a handful of terrorists like this bring the entire faith into disrepute.” A previously unknown Muslim group, Deccan Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The name suggests origins in India. Pakistan has denied involvement and demanding that India provide proof. In Pakistan, Jamaat-ud Dawa, an Islamist group believed to have ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba, denounced the killing of civilians. In Islamic extremist Web forums, some praised the Mumbai attacks, including the targeting of Jews. A man identified as Sheik Youssef al-Ayeri said the killings are in line with Islam. ”It's all right for Muslims to set the infidels' castles on fire, drown them with water .... and take some of them as prisoners, whether young or old, women or men, because it is one of many ways to beat them,” he wrote in the al-Fallujah forum. In the Gaza Strip, the territory's Islamic militant Hamas rulers declined to comment. Hamas has carried out scores of suicide attacks in Israel, killing hundreds of civilians in recent years. However, Hamas has said it does not want to get involved in conflicts elsewhere. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the attacks as terrorism, but added that the violence is rooted in “unjust policies” aimed at destabilizing the region. He did not elaborate. India is seen by many in the Arab and Muslim world as a Western ally. For example, Israel has become an important arms supplier to India, angering Muslim Pakistan. Saudi Arabia said in a statement carried earlier this week by the Saudi Press Agency that it “strongly condemns and denounces this criminal act.” An editorial Friday in Saudi's English-language Arab News said that “no civilized person ... can be anything but revolted and sickened by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.” However, Jonathan Fighel, an Israeli counterterrorism expert, said Saudi organizations have been funneling money to Muslim militants in Kashmir. ”This demonstrates exactly the double game and, I would say, the hypocrisy of the Saudi regime,” said Fighel of the Israel-based International Institute for Counter-Terrorism. Throughout the Muslim world, the attacks set off soul-searching. ”I think that Muslims should raise their voice against such actions. They should forge a coalition to fight such phenomena, because it harms them and damages their image,” said Ali Abdel Muhsen, 22, a Muslim engineering student in the West Bank city of Nablus. Muslims and Arabs must confront the violence “that is taking place in our name and in the name of our (Islamic) tenets,” wrote Khaled al-Jenfawi, a columnist for Kuwait's Al-Seyassah daily. ”Unfortunately, we have yet to see a distinguished popular condemnation in the traditional Arab or Muslim communities that strongly rejects what is happening in the name of Islam or Arab nationalism,” wrote al-Jenfawi.

Terrorist Attacks Terrorize India...Again....

This blog post contains three sets of information for you.

1. A commentary by the Editor of OIA! on terrorism

2. Pictures on some of the bombings/terrorist activities that have been going on in India

3. An article on the *bomb blasts and shootings* that happened in Mumbai, India this week.  *Click here* to link to the news report on this as published in the New York Times.


OIA! Editor commentary:

So, on November 26 (yesterday) there was a[nother] major terrorist attack in India, in which foreigners--particular Brits and Americans--were targeted.  There are still hostages being held right now as this is written.  Please send out some positive thoughts, energy, and prayers to those people!!

Terrorism in India seems to occur in revenge for *Hindu violence against and oppression of Muslims*. 

During the attacks that happened on Wednesday, terrorists targeted foreigners, hotels and places of wealth and business in particular.  In this way, it seems that the goal of the terrorists is probably to scare foreigners from coming to India to participate in business and the tourist economy--thus harming the Indian economy as a whole, and serving as a form of revenge to get back at India, who is seen as the oppressor.

Terrorism makes sense but also makes no sense at all.

Terrorism as a tactic makes sense in that if you have a group of people that is soaked in fear and hatred (for whatever reason), and/or is consistently repressed, hated, and marginalized, certain people within that group will use lashing out through violence as a way to combat the hatred that is directed toward them by others.

However, terrorism makes no sense at all, because acts of violence perpetuate the cycle of hatred in a GRAND way. There are SO many other ways to make change happen.

Humans are SUCH powerful beings.

Imagine this....people feel powerless, so to feel power, which they believe comes from making others suffer as they (and their people have), they hide behind weapons, and they create and feed off of deep wells of hatred and negative energy in their hearts, which explode out through their hands, through their weapons and become directed at the destruction of other human beings.

If that power and energy was instead wielded through peaceful activism, change could be made in JUST as grand of a way. This has been the essential message of major leaders of change throughout history.

It is reprehensible that parts of India and certain political groups in India are themselves responsible for committing *large-scale hate crimes* against the Muslim community. This is especially sad considering the *long-term historical context of this intolerance*.

Yet at the end of the day, VIOLENCE WILL NEVER BE THE ANSWER!!!! How can hate ever possibly solve anything?

A Colleague of the Editor of OIA! also made several central points about how completely ineffective terrorism is as a tactic for....whatever the purpose of terrorism is....revenge maybe? Does anyone have an answer to this?

The following discussion is about terrorism as a tactic in general, regardless of who you are ‘fighting’ on behalf of.

She made the point that firstly, if you are committing acts of violent terrorism, YOU DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE KILLING, WHAT THEIR VALUE IS, WHAT THEY DO.

You could be killing people who could change the entire world. They could be the very people who are fighting to change things for the better for your community, who could someday save the life of you or your child, they could be future allies of yours, or people working hard to make the world better for you and your loved ones.

An example of a beautiful person who worked hard to make the world a better place and was killed during a terrorist attack is Sergio Vieira de Mello. *Click here* to read about this man.

If terrorism is a mechanism to accomplish a certain set of goals--getting attention for issues facing your community, getting revenge against those who commit crimes against you and your community, etc--at some point you have to realize that you have a set of goals that you want to accomplish. However, terrorism is a dead end job, because it will never pay off. Things won't get any better through this kind of violence, they will only get worse, and make things worse for your community. When you are violent, it brings attention to you. When you commit violence in the name of a group or a cause, and use violence and fearmongering to push a particular agenda that you claim is in your group’s best interest, you use innocent people as a pawns in your own game of violence that you set the rules for without really taking the repercussions of your actions on your own community into consideration. 

If terrorists really cared about the people they claim to be struggling on behalf of instead of just caring about themselves, they would NOT commit terrorist acts, because they lead to more hatred against a whole social group and simply create deeper divisions and even outright hatred and violence as a backlash to the terrorist actions--regardless of who cast the first stone.

Finally, terrorism does not target the root of the problems facing a community. If you are bombing, killing, and terrorizing families, farmers, children, just regular people in the community, then the people who are responsible for committing crimes against your community in the first place will always get away scott free.

This does NOT mean that the original perpetrators of virulent strains of thought should instead be targeted for murder. Killing these leaders is also not the answer, because you can kill a person, but not a thought process. If the thought processes driving oppression survive because terrorism continues, then the cycle of oppression and terrorism will NEVER STOP, and 10, 15, 348 years from now, you will still be fighting and killing - forever entrenched in the same pointless war - which is exactly the case in India, and between the Hindu/Muslim, Muslim/Christian, Jewish/Muslim conflicts.  People are killing their own brothers and sisters!!!

Terrorist train bombing in Mumbai, July 11, 2006

Another shot of the Mumbai train bombing

Bombings in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, May 13, 2008

Bombing in Jaipur

Burning of the Trident Hotel in Mumbai after the attacks on the 27th (see below).

Article on the Mumbai attacks:

At Least 100 Dead in India Terror Attacks

Prashanth Vishwanathan for The New York Times

Police watched the Taj Mahal Hotel, set ablaze by terrorists, in Mumbai on Thursday. More Photos >

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published New York Times: November 26, 2008

MUMBAI, India — Coordinated terrorist attacks struck the heart of Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, on Wednesday night, killing dozens in machine-gun and grenade assaults on at least two five-star hotels, the city’s largest train station, a Jewish center, a movie theater and a hospital.

Multimedia

Interactive Map

Map and Photographs of the Attack Sites

Slide Show

Past Attacks in India

Slide Show

A Night of Terror in Mumbai

Related

The Lede: Latest Updates: Hostages Being Held in 2 Hotels (November 26, 2008)

The Lede: Call for Eyewitnesses(November 26, 2008)

Terrorism’s Impact Grows as Indian Election Nears (September 24, 2008)

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Even by the standards of terrorism in India, which has suffered a rising number of attacks this year, the assaults were particularly brazen in scale and execution. The attackers used boats to reach the urban peninsula where they hit, and their targets were sites popular with tourists.

The Mumbai police said Thursday that the attacks killed at least 101 people and wounded at least 250. Guests who had escaped the hotels told television stations that the attackers were taking hostages, singling out Americans and Britons.

A previously unknown group claimed responsibility, though that claim could not be confirmed. It remained unclear whether there was any link to outside terrorist groups.

Gunfire and explosions rang out into the morning.

Hours after the assaults began, the landmark Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, next to the famed waterfront monument the Gateway of India, was in flames.

Guests banged on the windows of the upper floors as firefighters worked to rescue them.

Fire also raged inside the luxurious Oberoi Hotel, according to the police. A militant hidden in the Oberoi told India TV on Thursday morning that seven attackers were holding hostages there.

“We want all mujahedeen held in India released, and only after that we will release the people,” he said.Some guests, including two members of the European Parliament who were visiting as part of a trade delegation, remained in hiding in the hotels, making desperate cellphone calls, some of them to television stations, describing their ordeal.

Alex Chamberlain, a British citizen who was dining at the Oberoi, told Sky News television that a gunman had ushered 30 or 40 people from the restaurant into a stairway and, speaking in Hindi or Urdu, ordered them to put up their hands.

“They were talking about British and Americans specifically,” he said. “There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said, ‘Where are you from?’ and he said he’s from Italy, and they said, ‘Fine,’ and they left him alone.”

Sajjad Karim, 38, a British member of the European Parliament, told Sky News: “A gunman just stood there spraying bullets around, right next to me.”

Before his phone went dead, Mr. Karim added: “I managed to turn away and I ran into the hotel kitchen and then we were shunted into a restaurant in the basement. We are now in the dark in this room, and we have barricaded all the doors. It’s really bad.”

Attackers had also entered Cama and Albless Hospital, according to Indian television reports, and struck Nariman House, which is home to the city’s Chabad-Lubavitch center.

A spokesman for the Lubavitch movement in New York, Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, told the Associated Press that attackers “stormed the Chabad house” in Mumbai.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it was trying to locate an unspecified number of Israelis missing in Mumbai, according to Haaretz.com, the Web site of an Israeli newspaper.

Several high-ranking law enforcement officials, including the chief of the antiterrorism squad and a commissioner of police, were reported killed.

The military was quickly called in to assist the police.

Hospitals in Mumbai, a city of more than 12 million that was formerly called Bombay, have appealed for blood donations. As a sense of crisis gripped much of the city, schools, colleges and the stock exchange were closed Thursday.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, the chief minister for Maharashtra State, where Mumbai is, told theCNN-IBN station that the attacks hit five to seven targets, concentrated in the southern tip of the city, known as Colaba and Nariman Point. But even hours after the attacks began, the full scope of the assaults was unclear.

Unlike previous attacks in India this year, which consisted of anonymously planted bombs, the assailants on Wednesday night were spectacularly well-armed and very confrontational. In some cases, said the state’s highest-ranking police official, A. N. Roy, the attackers opened fire and disappeared.

Indian officials said the police had killed six of the suspected attackers and captured nine.

A group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen said it had carried out the attacks. It was not known who the group is or whether the claim was real.

Around midnight, more than two hours after the series of attacks began, television images from near the historic Metro Cinema showed journalists and bystanders ducking for cover as gunshots rang out. The charred shell of a car lay in front of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly Victoria Terminus, the mammoth railway station. A nearby gas station was blown up.

The landmark Leopold Café, a favorite tourist spot, was also hit.

Reached by phone, some guests who had been trapped in the Taj said about 1 a.m. that they had heard an explosion and gunfire in the old wing of the hotel.

A 31-year-old man who was in the Taj attending a friend’s wedding reception said he was getting a drink around 9:45 p.m. when he heard something like firecrackers — “loud bursts” interspersed with what sounded like machine-gun fire.

A window of the banquet hall shattered, and guests scattered under tables and were quickly escorted to another room, he said. No one was allowed to leave.

Just before 1 a.m., another loud explosion rang out, and then another about a half-hour later, the man said.

At 6 a.m., he said that when the guests tried to leave the room early Thursday, gunmen opened fire. One person was shot.

The man’s friend, the groom, was two floors above, in the old wing of the hotel, trapped in a room with his bride. One explosion, he said, took the door off its hinges. He blocked it with a table.

Then came another blast, and gunfire rang out throughout the night. He did not want to be identified, for fear of being tracked down.

Rakesh Patel, a British businessman who escaped the Taj, told a television station that two young men armed with a rifle and a machine gun took 15 hostages, forcing them to the roof.

The gunmen, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, “were saying they wanted anyone with British or American passports,” Mr. Patel said.

He and four others managed to slip away in the confusion and smoke of the upper floors, he said. He said he did not know the fate of the remaining hostages.

Clarence Rich Diffenderffer, of Wilmington, Del., said after dinner at the hotel he headed to the business center on the fifth floor.

“A man in a hood with an AK-47 came running down the hall,” shooting and throwing four grenades, Mr. Diffenderffer said. “I, needless to say, beat it back to my room and locked it, and double-locked it, and put the bureau up against the door.”

Mr. Diffenderffer said he was rescued hours later, at 6:30 a.m., by a cherrypicker.

Among those apparently trapped at the Oberoi were executives and board members of Hindustan Unilever, part of the multinational corporate giant, The Times of India reported.

Indian military forces arrived outside the Oberoi at 2 a.m., and some 100 officers from the central government’s Rapid Action Force, an elite police unit, entered later.

CNN-IBN reported the sounds of gunfire from the hotel just after the police contingent went in.

The Bush administration condemned the attacks, as did President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. The White House said it was still “assessing the hostage situation.”