Six years after gunmen from Pakistan stormed prime hotels and city landmarks killing more than 160 people and wounding many more in Mumbai, residents say they are ready to counter such incidents should they take place in the future.
On Wednesday, a crowd gathered outside the Gateway of India to light candles in memory of those who had lost their lives in the attacks.
Residents said they will not be cowed by such attacks.
“We want to let everyone know that we are ready for any attack or hurdle. We are not scared,”” said Sayeed Maqsood.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik, said the government has tightened security after 2008.
“The government has taken a lot of steps after 26/11. There have been a lot of improvements in police and policing. But I feel there should be more efforts from the government in this regard, intelligence should be upgraded and CCTV cameras should be in place in a big way. Along with that, even the residents should be alert,” said Malik.
Meanwhile, families, friends and politicians paid homage to the unfortunate victims at the Police Memorial in Mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is at the SAARC Summit in Nepal, tweeted: “We remember the horrific terror attacks in Mumbai on this day in 2008 and pay homage to the innocent men and women who lost their lives.”
Ten heavily armed gunmen of Lashkar-e-Taiba went on a rampage for almost three days.
These militants arrived on the city shoreline in a dinghy, before splitting into four groups and embarking on a killing spree. They held off elite commandos for up to 60 hours in two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre.
Several people were held hostage for three days before the National Security Guards (NSG) commandos killed the militants in the siege as they undertook ‘Operation Black Tornado.’
Indian commandos smoked out the last of the militants on November 29, 2008. Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, who was then the lone surviving militant, was arrested and kept at a high-security prison in Mumbai.
Later, Kasab was hanged in 2012 after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his clemency plea against the death sentence by the country’s apex court.
Just days before the fourth anniversary of the rampage, Kasab was secretly executed in Yerwada Central Jail in Pune.
The incident strained the al ready tense relations between New Delhi and Islamabad as India suspected the killers to have come across the border.
The attacks had stalled peace talks between India and Pakistan.
