NEW DELHI, Sept 26: Ending their boycott, families of the security personnel killed in the terrorist attack on Parliament House on December 13, 2001 have decided to this year participate in the programme organised at Parliament complex to pay tributes to the martyrs.
A delegation of family members of the martyrs today met Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu in this regard.
All-India Anti-Terrorist Front chief MS Bitta, who accompanied the delegation, said that the family members of the martyrs had returned the gallantry medals and had been boycotting the ceremony in protest against the “delay” in execution of death warrant against Mohammad Afzal Guru, convicted for the terror attack.
Guru was hanged in Tihar Jail on February 9 last year.
Though the families took back the medals, they stayed away from the anniversary event “as they were upset over the attitude of the authorities”, Bitta said.
He also requested the Narendra Modi government to allow the the names of Parliament attack martyrs to be etched in the proposed Rs 50-crore National Police Memorial in the national capital.
“We are approaching the 13th anniversary of the attack. I thank you (Naidu) for sanctioning Rs 50 crore for the memorial in the Union Budget. My request to the government, on behalf of all the families, is to have the names of the martyrs etched in stone tablets and be placed as part of the memorial,” the former Youth Congress chief told Naidu during the meet.
The minister in his response thanked “the brave souls” for their “supreme sacrifices” and directed the ministry officials to look into the requests.
“We owe our lives to their sacrifices. I know, I was there in Parliament when the attack took place. It is sad that some of the families of the deceased had returned the medals to the government. Our government will give all possible help for this memorial,” Naidu later told reporters.
The minister also met 85-year-old Sardar Singh, whose son Om Prakash, a head constable, had died in the attack, and assured him of all help.
The AIATF head, who was targeted in a bomb attack by terrorists in 1993, said that “on behalf of the families, we had boycotted any visit to Parliament until the hanging of Afzal Guru (one of the main accused). And, since he was hanged last year, now the families wish to go there and pay homage to them.”
The National Police Memorial, consisting of steel structure made of columns and a globe, was earlier being built at the head of the Shantipath Vista in Chanakypuri.
It was later dismantled on high court’s direction following objections from heritage activists.
“The memorial was proposed right after the Parliament attack in 2001. There were some objections earlier to the first design, owing to its huge size. But, now a new one will be made. A new site near the first one has been chosen,” Bitta said.
Bitta noted that the BJP’s demand for Guru’s execution was an important factor in implementing the judicial verdict against Afzal Guru. (PTI)
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