Mumbai pays tribute to 26/11 victims

MUMBAI - Two years after 10 Pakistani terrorists killed 166 people in an audacious attack here, India’s financial capital Friday paid homage to the victims of the 26/11 carnage that stunned the world.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state Home Minister R.R. Patil, other ministers, top police and civil officials laid wreaths at the martyrs memorial near the police headquarters in south Mumbai.

Mumbai Police, along with the elite Force One and Quick Response Team also took out a parade at the Marine Drive seafront, showcasing their power and might.

Unlike the daily boisterousness and camaraderie witnessed in the early peak hour travel, the mood was solemn and quite subdued Friday morning as millions of commuters took local trains and buses to go to south Mumbai.

According to a regular commuter, Avanti Rahate, the people silently remembered the victims of the carnage.

Later in the day, union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will pay homage, along with union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Chavan, at a function at the Magathane CNG Station in Borivli east, northwest Mumbai.

Chidambaram is likely to make an announcement allotting the filling station to one of the 17 martyrs of the terror attacks.

Several commemorative functions and campaigns have been planned in different parts of the city to mark the day when Mumbai suffered its worst terror attack till date.

Brief prayers services are being held at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Hotel Trident-Oberoi — the sites of the attacks.

Nijaat, a social organisation, will carry out a signature campaign at CST demanding immediate hanging of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani terrorist, for killing innocents and wreaking havoc in the city, the organisation’s co-convenor Hyder Azam said.

‘Ek Kadam’ - March For Solidarity has been organised from Hotel Trident-Oberoi to Hotel Taj Mahal this afternoon by Congress leader Charan Singh Sapra to remember the terror victims.

Commoners and celebrities, including stars like Ajay Devgn, Raveena Tandon and Mahima Chaudhary, will join the march, besides office-goers from Nariman Point and Colaba areas, he said.

A special 26/11 eve memorial service was held Thursday at the Chabad House in Colaba, which was also one of the sites targeted by the Pakistani terrorists.

The prayer service was conducted by Jewish Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg and his wife Frieda, who arrived in the city this week.

The Holtzbergs lost their children, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, while their then two-year old grandson Baby Moshe and his Indian nanny Sandra managed to escape by hoodwinking the terrorists who created mayhem in Chabad House.

Former police officer Kiran Bedi and large number of civilians took part in a midnight candle-light vigil Thursday in the lane near Cama Hospital, near CST, where three top police officials — Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar — were gunned down during the attacks.

Meanwhile, tight security arrangements are in place in the city on the second anniversary of the 26/11 attacks.