Zeenews Bureau
Mumbai: Mumbai, which is still trying to recover from the scars of last year`s 26/11 terrorist attacks, marked the first anniversary of the horrific incident Thursday, by lighting candles outside the Gateway of India and at the Taj Hotel and prayed for tranquillity and a brighter hope for the city that saw 166 innocent people killed without reason.
Mumbaikars went around the Taj Hotel; one of the sites attacked by terrorists, chanting slogans of peace and reminiscencing about those who had died last year during a three day siege.
"We want peace. We have come to pay homage to our soldiers who laid their lives for us and for the country," said Shakuntla Devi, a local.
The scene and the sentiments were similar at the Oberoi Trident hotel, which also bore the brunt of the attack.
But the anger persists, although not at the hysteric levels seen in the days immediately after the attacks. Some shouted "Hang Kasab" as they walked past the Taj, while others kept repeating ‘we will not forget’.
Mumbai`s police also showed its resolve with its elite forces parading past some of the city`s landmarks in a show of strength.
Onlookers waved flags and banners with slogans like "End The Violence" as police commandoes, showing off new weapons and armoured vehicles, tracked the route of ten militants who disembarked in Mumbai a year ago to rampage through the city.
The mood was sombre with an undercurrent of anger at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, where the sole captured terrorist Kasab and his accomplice Ismail had went on a shooting spree killing 58 innocent people.
People paid their tributes to the victims
of the terror attacks by offering flowers at a memorial in
memory of those killed.
Prayers were also held with porters, railway workers
and others laying wreaths at the memorial.
Also, hundreds of people donated blood at a blood donation camp organised at the station.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan was present at
the camp encouraging volunteers to donate blood.
Prayers are also being held at Nariman House, where
six people, including a Rabbi and his wife, were held hostage
in a 45-hour siege and then killed by terrorists – leaving Baby Moshe an orphan.
Nariman House will be thrown open to the public this evening.
Tribute wall
Hundreds of youngsters, men and women, drew paintings, wrote peace messages and put hand impressions on a one-and-a-half-kilometer long wall on Wednesday (November 25) - saying the city stood united against any future attacks on this cosmopolitan fabric.
Some of the peace messages and symbols like red paint symbolising blood, black paint symbolising fear and death and messages like ``we will not forget`` featured prominently on the wall.
Shaina NC, a Mumbai-based fashion designer-turned politician, and one of the brains behind the wall, said the wall was an outlet for Mumbai residents to pour out their feelings.
"I think Mumbai is definitely more sensitive, if you take this as a viewing what has happened today in this one-and-half-kilometer you will see how beautifully people envisage a brighter future, a future of unity, and that happens with togetherness," she said.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan also wrote his own message of peace on the wall.
Ten gunmen had landed on Mumbai shores by boats at sunset on November 26, 2008 and fired randomly inside a railway station, a Jewish settlement, a cafe and two luxury hotels.
Several people were held hostage for the next three days and at least 166 died before commandoes smoked out the last of the terrorists on November 28 last year.
One gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, who claims to be Pakistani national, was taken alive and is presently, facing trial in a special court in Mumbai.
With agency inputs
