'We should plug this leak once and for all'

The terror attacks on Mumbai has shaken many to the core, but very few of us are actively doing something to better the situation.
Composer Vishal Dadlani [Images] of the Vishal-Shekhar duo has taken up a cause that he believes will protect the lives of the security forces during anti-terrorism operations.
He has taken a stand against the live telecast by news television channels, which he says, exposed the plans of the military and National Security Guard as they tried to overwhelm the terrorists and rescue hostages.
Vishal tells Ronjita Kulkarni why he took up this cause.
What made you take up this issue?
Watching the live minute-by-minute broadcast of what was going on with the (armed) forces, what they were planning, how they were entering (the buildings), their strategies, their positions was very fascinating, but very morbid as well because it may have been available to the terrorists as well. And that's very dangerous for national security.
This information should be classified but the television channels were broadcasting it. They were trying to outdo each other in getting closer to the action and giving more details. They pointed their cameras away about 40 hours into the operation -- maybe because the ministry instructed them to do so.
As a citizen of the country, I felt that our forces lost a certain element of surprise by being put in a position where every movement was aired live on television. And I figured no one else would do anything about it, so I decided to give my time. I've put up a petition, created a Web site, I have legal advisors... I'm going to take it as far as it goes, and hopefully, the courts will issue directives to enforce a certain code of conduct.
I don't want to blame any channel. Whatever has happened has happened. We are all in a sad and angry time right now. But if this, god forbid, were to happen in future, we need to be prepared. We cannot have our forces put in a position of disadvantage by our own channels.
And we should not allow terrorists carry out their propaganda on our channels (by airing a live phone call from a terrorist). That is unacceptable.
The channels should not be calling guests (in the Taj Mahal hotel and the Trident hotel) and giving out their positions -- that these are the locations of the biggest suits where the richest people could be hiding. They're actually doing a major disservice. I don't know how much of the coverage actually affected the forces but I know it could have. We should plug this leak once and for all, so that it never happens again.