US SECRETARY of state Antony Blinken has stressed on a speedy trial of the perpetrators of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that resulted in deaths of several hundreds, including foreign nationals, six of whom were Americans.
A group of 10 Laskhar-e-Taiba terrorists from Pakistan went on a rampage in a number of locations in India’s ‘Maximum City’, carrying out coordinated attacks on a railway station, two luxury hotels and jewish centre after sneaking into the country’s financial capital via the Arabian Sea.
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Rabbi Israel Kozlovsky, the director of Nariman Light (Chabad) House, gestures at shrapnel marks which was left in the same state following the 2008 Mumbai militant attacks, during a media visit on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attacks in Mumbai on November 25, 2018. (Photo by PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images)
The incident sent shockwaves across India and the world and the relationship between India and Pakistan plummeted in the wake of the disaster.
India remembers 26/11 martyrs, pays floral tributes
“Thirteen years have passed since the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. On today’s anniversary, we remember the victims, including six Americans, and the resiliency of Mumbaikars. It is long overdue for the perpetrators to face justice,” Blinken said in a tweet on Friday (26), which marked the 13th anniversary of the terror attacks.
Blinken’s deputy Wendy Sherman said the US and India remain united in the fight against terrorism.
“On my recent trip to Mumbai, I visited the 26/11 Memorial at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel to honour the memory of those who lost their lives in the horrific Mumbai terror attack,” she said.
The Indian embassy in Washington organised a solemn event in its premises to mark the 13th anniversary of the tragedy which was attended by Jennifer Larson, deputy assistant secretary bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, US state department; Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch and several community members, besides the embassy officials.
The guests on the occasion observed a minute’s silence after the dignitaries lit candles in the memory of the martyrs of 26/11 attacks.
The dignitaries emphasised on the necessity of coordinated efforts to fight terrorism and to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.
While Larson highlighted India-US cooperation in the field of counterterrorism, Shemtov recalled the strong India-US relationship and friendship between Jewish people and India.
He also appreciated the visit of Moshe Holtzberg (who lost his parents in the attacks) to India in 2018 at the initiative of prime minister Narendra Modi.
India has been pressing Pakistan to punish those involved in the dastardly attack but the trial of the accused in the attack has not made much progress so far.
Ajmal Kasab, the only gunman in the terrorists’ group who was caught alive, was hanged in November 2012 by the then United Progressive Alliance government.
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