Few hours before the blast in Manchester on Monday night that claimed at least 22 lives, the Indian high commission observed the day as ‘Anti-Terrorism Day’, when a pledge to uphold peace was taken by leaders and members of the community.
The annual observation is held on April 21 to mark the day former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991.
It was held for the first time in the open, in India Place next to the Indian high commission, near a bust of Jawaharlal Nehru installed in 1968.
Y K Sinha, high commissioner, delivered the pledge to the gathering that included councillors and members of the House of Lords, and recalled that London had recently suffered a terror attack in March. Terrorism, he said, affected lives across the world.
{{/usCountry}}Y K Sinha, high commissioner, delivered the pledge to the gathering that included councillors and members of the House of Lords, and recalled that London had recently suffered a terror attack in March. Terrorism, he said, affected lives across the world.
{{/usCountry}}“India has long suffered the scourge of terrorism. No country should shelter terrorism or promote terrorism or appease terrorism. Those who do so should be clearly told that the wider international community stands united against terrorism”, Sinha said at 1615 GMT.
It was around 2230 GMT that Manchester Arena, the largest indoor concert venue in Europe with a capacity of nearly 20,000 people, packed with thousands of teenagers and others for a concert by US pop singer Ariana Grande, was hit by the explosion suspected to have been triggered by a suicide bomber.