26/11 anniversary should be widely observed: Santosh Hegde

Bengaluru: To commemorate the eighth anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, a memorial ceremony was conducted in the city at the National Military Memorial Park on Saturday. Justice N Santosh Hegde, along with other military veterans and citizens paid homage to the martyrs and civilians who lost their lives in the attacks. Floral wreaths were offered at the foot of the memorial statue.

In his emotional address Hegde said, “We lost soldiers and civilians in 2008 and this is the least we can do, we must remember them. Even if we can’t contribute anything to the country’s armed forces physically, we can at least pay our respects and keep them in our hearts. It is a matter of shame and sadness that days like this are rarely observed. We urge upon the government concerned to include such days in the calendars of schools and colleges to be observed as holidays.”

Hegde also expressed sadness regarding the disability pension decision passed by the Central Government recently and urged the Private Member Bill to be passed unopposed. “The Bill is an historical statement. No one up until now had thought about it and it must be passed with the collective support of the Prime Minister, members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.” Assistant Commissioner of police Narayanaswamy K.N., who spoke at the ceremony said, “Any country demanding blood as the only answer is a terrorist state and should be declared as one. Terrorists are terrorists; there is no other word in the dictionary to say it! We must never support, never feed and never accept this train of thought. All of us Indians need to back this and our attitude needs to change.”

Commodore Dr G.J. Singh, Lieutenant General P.G. Kamath, Colonel V.G. Rajan and Commodore Dr Chandrasekhar were amongst others who addressed the gathering. About 350 people signed in to support of the Bill at the end of the commemoration service.