India Marks 9 Years Since Deadly Mumbai Terror Attacks
2008 attacks in Mumbai, also known as 26/11 attacks, lasted 4 days and left 166 people dead.
By Ahmad Adil
NEW DELHI – For the people who lost their loved ones in India’s deadliest terror attacks nine years ago, life will never be the same.
On Nov. 26, 2008, a series of attacks were carried out in India’s financial hub Mumbai. The attacks, which continued for four days, left 166 people dead. Only one of the 10 attackers, the allegedly Pakistan-based Ajmal Kasab, was caught alive and hanged by authorities in 2012.
Karuna Waghela, who lost her husband in the attack, said: “My husband used to do everything for the house. Now I have to manage everything alone.”
She said her husband Thakur Waghela was killed when he gave a glass of water to one of the attackers. Two gunmen barged into their home and shot him dead.
Now she works at the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital in Mumbai, the same hospital where her husband was working, to support her three children.
Sunanda Shinde, who lost her husband Bhagan Shinde in the attack, said: “I can’t forget that night even after nine years.”
“In our house, his absence is felt every day. Life is not the same,” said the mother of two.
- India vulnerable to threats
Some security experts say India has done little to improve its security situation since the attacks, and remains vulnerable to threats.
Ajai Sahni, executive director of New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, told Anadolu Agency: “The problems India is facing have become more complex. New technology is being used by us, but it also being used by the terrorists.”
He added that the city police are ill-equipped and untrained.
Sameer Patil, director of the Centre for International Security at the Gateway House think-tank in Mumbai, told Anadolu Agency that since the attacks, India has taken multiple steps to improve coastal security.
“It has focused on registering fishing boats, implemented biometric-based cards for fishermen, set up coastal police stations, and stepped up patrols on the western seaboard,” he said.
Security officials maintain the attackers arrived in the coastal city using the sea route.
Meanwhile, Indian-Pakistani ties remain strained. India has long blamed arch-rival Pakistan of orchestrating the attacks through Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a charge Islamabad denies.
- India-Pakistan relations
Last week a Pakistani court announced an end to the house arrest of the attacks’ alleged mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, a charity wing of the LeT.
For years, India has urged Pakistan to expedite the trial of the accused in Pakistani courts, but no significant progress has been seen.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to harp on this point whenever international pressure mounts on India to mend ways with Pakistan.
Experts believe that Indian-Pakistani ties may get more complicated still.
Navnita Chadha Behera, head of the political science department at Delhi University, told Anadolu Agency: “The release of Hafiz Saeed is certainly one huge factor in complicating India-Pakistan relations in that days to come but not the whole story.”
She added that the ongoing internal instability in Pakistan is putting pressure on its government to hold the militant groups accountable.
The U.S. has expressed deep concern over Saeed's release.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Friday: “The Pakistani government should make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes.”
Kaynak: AA
NEW DELHI – For the people who lost their loved ones in India’s deadliest terror attacks nine years ago, life will never be the same.
On Nov. 26, 2008, a series of attacks were carried out in India’s financial hub Mumbai. The attacks, which continued for four days, left 166 people dead. Only one of the 10 attackers, the allegedly Pakistan-based Ajmal Kasab, was caught alive and hanged by authorities in 2012.
Karuna Waghela, who lost her husband in the attack, said: “My husband used to do everything for the house. Now I have to manage everything alone.”
She said her husband Thakur Waghela was killed when he gave a glass of water to one of the attackers. Two gunmen barged into their home and shot him dead.
Now she works at the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital in Mumbai, the same hospital where her husband was working, to support her three children.
Sunanda Shinde, who lost her husband Bhagan Shinde in the attack, said: “I can’t forget that night even after nine years.”
“In our house, his absence is felt every day. Life is not the same,” said the mother of two.
- India vulnerable to threats
Some security experts say India has done little to improve its security situation since the attacks, and remains vulnerable to threats.
Ajai Sahni, executive director of New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, told Anadolu Agency: “The problems India is facing have become more complex. New technology is being used by us, but it also being used by the terrorists.”
He added that the city police are ill-equipped and untrained.
Sameer Patil, director of the Centre for International Security at the Gateway House think-tank in Mumbai, told Anadolu Agency that since the attacks, India has taken multiple steps to improve coastal security.
“It has focused on registering fishing boats, implemented biometric-based cards for fishermen, set up coastal police stations, and stepped up patrols on the western seaboard,” he said.
Security officials maintain the attackers arrived in the coastal city using the sea route.
Meanwhile, Indian-Pakistani ties remain strained. India has long blamed arch-rival Pakistan of orchestrating the attacks through Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a charge Islamabad denies.
- India-Pakistan relations
Last week a Pakistani court announced an end to the house arrest of the attacks’ alleged mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, the head of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, a charity wing of the LeT.
For years, India has urged Pakistan to expedite the trial of the accused in Pakistani courts, but no significant progress has been seen.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to harp on this point whenever international pressure mounts on India to mend ways with Pakistan.
Experts believe that Indian-Pakistani ties may get more complicated still.
Navnita Chadha Behera, head of the political science department at Delhi University, told Anadolu Agency: “The release of Hafiz Saeed is certainly one huge factor in complicating India-Pakistan relations in that days to come but not the whole story.”
She added that the ongoing internal instability in Pakistan is putting pressure on its government to hold the militant groups accountable.
The U.S. has expressed deep concern over Saeed's release.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Friday: “The Pakistani government should make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes.”