The day which created a black mark on the history of India forever! Exactly 13 years ago the same day when the Mumbai 26/11 attacks had happened; that shocked the entire nation with dread and fear. Still those daunting memories remain for some such that even today many of them haven’t recovered from the trauma of the bloodbath that had enveloped the entire financial capital of India on 26th November 2008. A group of 10 Pakistan-trained terrorists landed near a colony of fisherfolk at Cuffe Parade on Mumbai’s southern coast, left 166 people dead and 238 injured.
The Day Terror Had Hit Us
It has been 13 years since the terror attacks in Mumbai orchestrated by Lashkar-e-Taiba left 166 people dead and 238 injured. In what way did the attacks change the state’s politics? Are we prepared to handle disasters better? How does 26/11 still loom over our lives? We examine these questions in a two-part series starting today.
Exactly thirteen years ago on the evening of November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistan-trained terrorists landed near a colony of fisherfolk at Cuffe Parade on Mumbai’s southern coast. Armed with automatic machine guns and grenades, they attacked, with military precision, multiple carefully-selected buildings in south Mumbai: A crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway station and the nearby Cama and Albless Hospital; two five-star hotel complexes – the Taj Palace at Colaba and the Trident-Oberoi at Nariman Point; Leopold Café, a popular restaurant in Colaba; and Chabad House, a Jewish synagogue, also in Colaba.
The siege of Mumbai that started on November 26 ended three days later. By then, the terrorists had killed 166 persons and injured 238. Security personnel led by National Security Guard (NSG) commandos countered the attack and killed eight terrorists while one was killed by Mumbai police. The tenth terrorist, 25-year-old Ajmal Amir Kasab was caught alive after Tukaram Omble, an assistant sub-inspector, charged at him with just a lathi despite being shot five times and held onto to the terrorist’s weapon, allowing his colleagues to capture him. Omble died in the process, but Kasab was captured, tried and sentenced to death by a Mumbai court.
For The First Time The Realisation Struck For Adequate Intelligence In The Country
The incident shook the nation and the rest of the world. There was widespread anger against the governments in the state and at the Centre for their failure to prevent such an attack as well as their inadequate, scattered response to it.
Terror attacks were not new for Mumbai. India’s financial capital was struck by another coordinated terror attack on March 12, 1993, when the city was rocked by 12 serial bomb explosions, killing 257 and injuring 1400. In 2006, the city’s famed local train network was attacked with bombs exploding in seven suburban trains, killing 209 and injuring 700.
However, the 2008 attack was different. For the first time in India’s financial capital, terrorists barged into public places and opened fire, killing innocent people. It was unprecedented. With widespread anger among the people who were scared and felt helpless, the political fallout was inevitable. And quick.
Source : Hindustan Times
