November 29, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1429

MUMBAI’S international reputation as India’s commercial capital, and the heart of its Bollywood film industry, will suffer a severe blow as a result of the attack on the city.

By targeting opulent landmark buildings overlooking the Arabian Sea, favoured by foreign tourists and business travellers, the attackers will have calculated how to amplify the impact of their onslaught.

The violence, played out on international live TV networks and prolonged by the taking of hostages, should ensure that, for some time, Mumbai’s name will be associated with terrorist atrocities.

The UK’s Foreign Office in London has updated its advice to warn Britons against all but essential travel to Mumbai until further notice. Anyone now in the city should “stay indoors until local authorities advise it is safe to go outside”, it urges.

Previous travel warnings remain in force. “There is a high threat of terrorism throughout India,” it says. “Attacks have targeted public places, including places of worship and major festivals such as Diwali. They have also targeted places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers, most recently in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bangalore.”

The British high commission was on Thursday night making arrangements for British citizens caught up in the attacks to move elsewhere or leave the country. “They are shocked and traumatised,” Sir Richard Stagg, the high commissioner, said. “We have been issuing emergency passports and working with Indian colleagues to get exit visas for these passports. So far over 40 emergency passports were issued today and these citizens have either already flown back to Britain or will do so on the night flights out of Mumbai tonight.”

Stagg said the impact of the attacks was uncertain. “In terms of how this attack will affect things [business and tourism between India and the UK], it is too early to say. Certainly in the coming days and weeks we will have to a lot of analytical work and think about why this happened and what the lessons are. At the moment we are concentrating on looking after the British citizens who have been affected.”

Mumbai, formerly Bombay, has promoted itself as a vibrant, cultural tourist destination, feeding off the glamour of Bollywood and its phenomenal business success.

The Lonely Planet travel guide summarises some of Mumbai’s elements as: “One part Hollywood, six parts traffic, a bunch of rich power-moguls, half a dozen colonial relics, six heaped cups of poverty, a smattering of swish bars and restaurants, equal parts of mayhem and order, ancient bazaars, a handful of Hinduism and a dash of Islam.”

Mumbai’s prominence as a business centre initially came from its port, which made it a gateway to the subcontinent. The expansion of trade helped the city develop into a major international financial centre.

Many Indian multinationals and banks have their headquarters in the city. These increasingly affluent and powerful corporations have been seen as a significant driving force for global economic growth as European and American economies tip into recession.Mumbai, with a population of 13 million, accounts for a quarter of India’s industrial output, 40 per cent of its maritime trade and 70 per cent of capital transactions.

But many business travellers may now be reluctant to stay at the smoke-damaged five-star Taj Mahal hotel.

On the website of the besieged Oberoi hotel, the management still boasts about eminent former guests, including “Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Jack Welch and the president of the United States of America as well as various heads of state”.—Dawn/Guardian News & Media