22 yrs of Parliament attack: PM Modi, Amit Shah, others pay tributes to fallen jawans

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other top political leaders and ministers of the country on Wednesday reached the old Parliament building and paid their tributes to the fallen Jawans on the 22 years of the Parliament Attack.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar also paid their tributes to the fallen Jawans.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also interacted with the family members of the Jawans who sacrificed their lives in the Parliament attack on December 13, 2001.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi also paid the floral tributes.

Congress MPs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and other leaders were also present on the occasion to pay their tributes.

It may be recalled that it was on December 13, 2001, that Jagdish, Matbar, Kamlesh Kumari; Nanak Chand and Rampal, Assistant Sub-Inspectors, Delhi Police; Om Prakash, Bijender Singh and Ghanshyam, Head Constables in Delhi Police; and Deshraj, a gardener, CPWD, had sacrificed their lives while defending the Parliament against the terrorist attack.

The perpetrators belonged to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)-- two Pakistan-raised terrorist organizations-- attacked the Parliament on December 13, 2001, that led to the deaths of five Delhi Police personnel, two Parliament Security Service personnel, one CRPF Constable and a gardener and led to increased tensions between India and Pakistan, resulting in the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff.

A total of five terrorists, who infiltrated the Parliament in a car with Home Ministry and Parliament labels, were killed in the December 13, 2001 attack.

More than 100 people, including major politicians, were inside the parliament building at the time. The gunmen used a fake identity sticker on the car they drove and thus easily breached the security deployed around the parliamentary complex. The terrorists carried AK47 rifles, grenade launchers and pistols.

The gunmen drove their vehicle into the car of the Indian Vice President Krishan Kant (who was in the building at the time), got out, and began shooting. The Vice President's guards and security personnel shot back at the terrorists and then started closing the gates of the compound.

Indian security agencies and the Delhi Police officials said that gunmen received instructions from Pakistan and the operation was carried out under the guidance of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.