Archives for November 2018

Mumbai President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress on Monday paid tributes to the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror carnage on its 10th anniversary.

In a message, President Kovind said his “thoughts are with the families and individuals who suffered”.

“We salute those from the police and security forces who made the supreme sacrifice that day. India remains honour bound to securing justice and defeating terrorism.”

He said that the day also marks the 70th anniversary of the adoption of Indian Constitution.

“Let us make the coming year worth this anniversary by giving the Constitutional ethic a greater salience in all our thinking, all our action,” the President urged.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to those who lost their lives in the gruesome terror attack.

“Our solidarity with the bereaved families. A grateful nation bows to our brave police and security forces who valiantly fought the terrorists during the Mumbai attacks,” Modi said.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a message: “Solemnly remembering the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. My heartfelt gratitude and salutations to the security personnel, bravehearts, NSG commandos, police, firefighters and above all the citizens of Mumbai. Lest We Forget.”

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis saluted the brave security forces and martyrs who gave a fitting reply to the perpetrators.

“After the attacks, Mumbai’s security has been accorded top priority. The city is now under strict CCTV monitoring and we are committed to intensify our war against terror,” Fadnavis added, referring to the enhanced efforts to secure the country’s commercial capital.

State Congress President Ashok Chavan and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan paid tributes and said “the nation and its people would never forget the extreme sacrifices of their heroes in defending the nation”.

State President of Nationalist Congress Party Jayant Patil, Leader of Opposition in Council Dhananjay Munde and other senior leaders like Ajit Pawar visited the 26/11 martyrs memorial at Chowpatty.

Several functions are being held in the city and other parts of the state on Monday to remember the 26/11 carnage and pray for the 166 victims who perished in the 60-hour long attacks carried out by 10 Pakistani terrorists at multiple locations in south Mumbai, shocking the global community.

(IANS)

New Delhi Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday thanked party workers on the sixth year of its founding and said the “political revolution” was moving forward to rid the nation of corruption, communalism, and casteism.

“Aam Aadmi Party’s journey began six years ago on this very day. This political revolution is moving forward to rid the nation of corruption, communalism, and casteism, with the support of lakhs of workers and well-wishers who have worked selflessly,” he said in a tweet.

The party also thanked all its supporters for being with it throughout the “ups and downs in the six years”.

AAP was formally launched on this day in 2012. It made its electoral debut in the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly polls.

(IANS)

New York Timed for the tenth anniversary of the 2008 Mumbai attack on Monday, the US government has announced a $5 million-bounty covering all the terrorists connected with it.

The reward offered under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Programme is for “any individual who committed, conspired to commit, or aided or abetted in the execution” of the attack that killed 166 people, a Department media note said on Sunday.

This is the third RFJ bounty from the State Department on terrorists involved in the Mumbai attack carried out by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as it casts a wider net beyond its leaders.

In 2012, the Department put a bounty of $10 million on LeT founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and $2 million on his deputy, Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki.

The rewards have not worked so far and Saeed operates openly in Pakistan, leaving the effectiveness of the latest steps open to question.

Under international pressure, the Pakistani Punjab government put him under house arrest in January in 2017 but a review board headed by a Lahore High Court judge ordered his release in November that year.

Saeed has also been declared an international terrorist by the UN Security Council.

Before the Mumbai attack, the US had designated the LeT as a terrorist organisation in 2001 and imposed sanctions on it and the UN Security Council followed suit in 2005.

The RFJ website, which said the “reward offer extends to any individual who bears responsibility for this act of terror”, mentioned four persons, who, it said, have been indicted by a US federal court.

They are Sajid Mir, Major Iqbal, Abu Qahafa and Mazhar Iqbal (alias Abu al-Qama).

The RJF website said that Mir was the handler for Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, who was sent by the LeT on a spying mission to India to prepare for the attacks.

Ten heavily-armed terrorists, sneaked in through the Arabian Sea and attacked multiple locations within a small geographical area, killing 166 persons — including Indian security personnel and 26 foreign nationals — and left another 300 injured, besides inflicting huge damage to public and private properties.

Headley, whose original name was Daood Sayed Gilani, is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his role in the Mumbai attack and in a terrorism conspiracy against a Danish newspaper.

(IANS)