New Delhi: Martyrs of 2001 attack on Parliament were remembered on Friday with lawmakers led by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar paying homage to them on the the 12th anniversary of the incident.
Leaders paid their respect both outside and inside Parliament. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, her son and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley respectively and other members attended a solemn ceremony held in the premises of Parliament.
Retired Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar was also present on the occasion.
The leaders observed silence for a while as a mark of respect for the martyrs.
Commenting on the anniversary, Swaraj said this year she was 'satisfied that the mastermind of the attacks has already been punished'.
BSP supremeo Mayawati said the Government should ensure that all facilities are provided to the kin of martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country. Inside the Lok Sabha, the Speaker led the House in remembering the martyrs who lost their lives while preventing the Pakistani terrorists from entering Parliament.
"In this attack, five jawans, a CRPF woman constable, two Parliament security staff members and an employee lost their lives. Today we take a pledge to firmly face all kinds of terrorism and reiterate our commitment to protect unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country," she said.
In Rajya Sabha, Ansari recalled the supreme sacrifice by security personnel to prevent entry of terrorists in the Parliament building and said their 'sacrifice was of highest order'. The House observed silence in memory of those who laid down their lives.
On December 13, 2001, five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the Parliament complex and opened indiscriminate fire, killing nine persons. The martyrs included five Delhi Police personnel, a woman Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) official, two Parliament watch and ward staff and a gardener. A journalist, who was injured, died later.
All five terrorists were shot dead. A year later, four accused, including Afzal Guru, were arrested for the attack and found guilty after a trial. Guru was hanged this year in February after spending several years in jail.
Next: Martyrs' families demand memorial outside Parliament complex
Martyrs' families demand memorial outside Parliament complex
New Delhi: Upset over restrictions on their entry for paying homage to the martyrs of 2001 Parliament attack, the family members of the slain personnel on Friday demanded that they be alloted land outside the high-security complex to build a memorial.
The families said that after boycotting the ceremony for all these years to press for convict Afzal Guru's hanging, they were looking forward to join the memorial service today but decided against it as only one of the relatives of the martyrs was being allowed inside by Parliament officials.
Demanding a memorial similar to the one built for 26/11 martyrs in Mumbai, All India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) chairman M S Bitta said such restrictions were a "disrespect" to these families and so "we changed our minds and paid our floral tributes at the national police memorial".
"We had boycotted the homage-paying ceremony at Parliament all these years as Afzal Guru was not hanged. Today we are disappointed as the officials were allowing only one person to go in and not the whole family.
"The entire family wanted to pay homage to the martyrs that is why we want the government to give us a small piece of land where we can build a memorial from our own money," said Jaiwati, wife of Delhi police head constable Vijender Singh who laid down his life while fighting terrorists during the attack.
Umrao Singh Yadav from Sikar, whose son-in-law J P Yadav was also killed in the terror strike, said, "It is an irony that Parliament has security threat from the families of the people who laid down their lives while protecting it."
Bitta said, "After Afzal Guru's execution, we had decided to end our boycott. We took our gallantry medals back from the President which we had earlier returned as a mark of protest.
"The relatives and the families of the martyrs wanted to go into the Parliament complex and offer homage. But the Parliament officials did not allow the relatives and said that only one person from a family will be allowed to come inside and pay tributes."
