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‘Proud of your bravery’: Shah honours forces on 26/11 anniv
26/11 anniversary: Amit Shah said a grateful nation will always be indebted to the sacrifices of those who died and called the 2008 terror attacks a “cowardly” act.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday paid tributes to those who lost their lives in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and lauded the efforts of security forces who bravely fought the terrorists.
Shah said a grateful nation will always be indebted to the sacrifices of those who died and called the 2008 terror attacks a “cowardly” act.
“Heartfelt tributes to those who lost their lives in the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks,” the home minister tweeted.
Hailing the courage of the security personnel, he said, “The whole nation will be proud of your bravery. A grateful nation will always be indebted to your sacrifice.”
Friday marked the 13th anniversary of the terrorist attacks carried out in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, in which 166 people were killed and another 238 were injured. Considered among the deadliest terror strikes in India, the attack was carried out by 10 terrorists who were sent to India by Pakistan-based outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) top leadership that worked with Pakistan’s spy agency, ISI, and other outfits.
India and several other countries, including the US, the UK and France, have repeatedly asked Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks to justice, but no such firm initiative has been taken yet by Islamabad.
Jamaat-Ud-Dawa and Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed continues to run his organisation and carry out anti-India activities. India shared detailed evidence with Pakistan on a number of occasions, but Islamabad refused to cooperate.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has already completed its probe against all the perpetrators and shared detailed evidence with Pakistani authorities several times, but there has been no response till date.
It is now hopeful of getting Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian citizen currently held in the United States. The US authorities have already expressed their willingness to extradite Rana, a former Pakistan army physician, to India once his 14-year jail term ends there.
The agency teams visited the US twice since 2018 to pursue his extradition. During these visits, the US department of justice (DoJ) said that they are convinced with India’s charges against 59-year-old Rana, who helped co-conspirator David Coleman Headley in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and allegedly planned attacks at National Defence College (NDC) and Chabad House.
Headley, a US citizen and a resident of Chicago who carried out reconnaissance of the targets in Mumbai, entered into plea bargain with the US, due to which he cannot be extradited to India. However, India’s request for extradition of Rana on the charges forgery and criminal breach of trust as he used his firm for making documents of Headley in Mumbai, has already been accepted by the US prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Officials who didn’t want to be named said that the process slowed down in last one year due to Covid-19 but it is likely to be finalised in 2022.
FBI arrested Rana in Chicago on October 18, 2009 for providing material support to the conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder, kidnapping and maiming outside the US, including Mumbai and Copenhagen.
He was convicted in 2013 by the Chicago court of conspiracy to provide material support to a plot from October 2008 to October 2009 to commit murder in Denmark, including a plan to behead employees of Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and throw their heads on to the street in Copenhagen.
