Terror attack in Mumbai: PM vows ’relentless pursuit’ of perpetrators

Mangalore Today / NDTV

Mumbai, July 15:  As Mumbai, emotionally and physically drained from its latest terror attack, was winding up its day, the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi arrived. Dr Manmohan Singh made it clear that he had heard the city’s frustration - last evening’s trio of blasts were the financial capital’s fourth terror attack in the last eight years. Seventeen people have died and 131 injured in the rush hour terror strike. "I understand the shock and rage of the people of Mumbai. I share their pain and anguish and anger," he said. "The government will do everything in its power to prevent such attacks in the future."

 

The Prime Minister vowed to "relentlessly pursue the perpetrators" saying, "They must be brought to justice quickly and be subject to the rule of law that they have sought to subvert."

Dr Singh and Mrs Gandhi visited Saifee and JJ Hospitals where some of those injured are still being treated.

But their visit is also aimed at checking political criticism. BJP leader LK Advani who visited Mumbai described the three blasts in 12 minutes as "a failure of policy, not intelligence". He said the government needs to set a zero-tolerance policy on terror that extends to dialogue with Pakistan.


Dr Singh, who has pioneered the resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, will now face many challenging questions in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Home Minister P Chidambaram was careful to stress that it is inappropriate to speculate on who is responsible for the blasts at Dadar, Opera House and Zaveri Bazaar.

Mr Chidambaram also said that there was no intelligence failure in this case. "Intelligence is collected every day, every hour. It (blasts) is not a failure of intelligence agencies... whoever has perpetrated the attacks has worked in a very clandestine manner", he said.


For Mumbai, these are finer points that mean very little. All the city seemed to want today was for politicians to stop applying the cliche of Mumbai’s "resilient spirit."

A young woman headed this morning to her office said, "We don’t expect anything now." For a city still recovering from 26/11, the searing attack three years ago in which 166 people were killed, overnight new demons of terror have risen.

 

The injured are being treated at KEM (022-24136051), Nair (022-23085379), Harkishandas (022-23855555/30095555), Saifee (022-67570111).