India can never forget Mumbai attacks: Modi
The nation observed the 12th anniversary of the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai yesterday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India cannot ever forget the attack.
He also clarified that the country has now been “combating terrorism with new policy and new method”.
Noting that the day is associated with the biggest terrorist attack on the country when in 2008 terrorists attacked Mumbai leaving many Indians, as well as foreigners dead, the prime minister said he pays his respect to all those killed in that attack.
“India cannot forget Mumbai attack. Today’s India is facing terrorism with new strategy and new polity. I praise those security officers who have been playing major role in securing the country,” the prime minister said while addressing the concluding session of 80th All India Presiding Officers Conference via video conferencing in Kevadia, Gujarat.
Paying homage to security forces and police personnel who lost their lives in the Mumbai attack, the prime minister asserted that India’s security scenario has changed from previous years.
“Today’s India is combating terrorism with new policy and new method.”
A series of terrorist attacks took place on November 26, 2008 in Mumbai when 10 Lashkar-eTaiba terrorists carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing lasting four days killing 166 people and injuring over 300.
In these gruesome attacks, nine terrorists were killed and the lone survivor, Ajmal Kasab, caught and was sentenced to death at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune in 2012. On November 11, 2012, Kasab was hanged in Yerawada Jail in Pune.
Meanwhile, in Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray led the state by solemnly laying wreaths at the new Martyrs’ Memorial erected inside the Mumbai Police commissionerate premises near Crawford Market in south Mumbai.
The other dignitaries included Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray, chief secretary Sanjay Kumar, director-general of police Subodh Jaiswal, Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh and other officers.
A large number of police personnel also paid homage to their colleagues who had been martyred in the terror attacks carried out at key locations in south Mumbai, with a special thought for Tukaram G Omble, who sacrificed his life in nabbing Kasab alive.
Later, the relatives of the martyrs and several brave-hearts also turned up to pay homage to their departed kin as the governor, chief minister and other top officials waited and acknowledged them with folded hands.
The relatives including widows, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers or sisters stepped up to the memorial and offered their own personal tributes with flowers or tears for their near and dear ones.
Several other relatives of victims felled during the terrorists’ mayhem also paid homage at the Martyrs Memorial and other locations.
Other memorial services were held at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, Hotel Oberoi, the Chabad House, Cama Hospital, and the Leopold Cafe, all sites brutally targeted by the attackers.
Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, tweeted: “The wanton destruction that took place 12 years ago today will never be forgotten...”
The traditional and social media featured many remembrance ads, touching tributes and messages of the 60-hours that shook the world.