Attacks. Victims. Compensation. Tributes. When will this end?
Kavita Karkare, wife of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who died in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, made a heartfelt plea at a meeting recently to drive home the plight of suffering families.
“Attacks are still taking place. I think somewhere we are giving short shrift to our security. This should stop. You pay tributes to the departed, you honour us, you give us compensation. But how long will this go on,” she asked at the Mumbai Congress event held on the eve of the third anniversary of 26/11. Karkare was among the three top officers who fell to the bullets of gunman Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab and his partner Abu Ismail.
“Compensation is offered, but terrorism is still continuing. We are neglecting our security. Despite all the measures, I feel, our security is still not up to the mark.” Ms. Karkare told The Hindu on the phone on Saturday.
Calling for a tightening of legislation, she said it was high time India sent a strong message to the world that it meant business when it came to taking action against perpetrators of terror attacks.
“We must change the law for international terrorists. Kasab should be given capital punishment immediately. Somewhere we have to take the decision. Otherwise, the world will think we are a weak country.”
Glowing tributes to the departed have become a never-ending affair, but they bring no solace to the kin of the victims. “It aggravates our pain. We feel harassed. It all comes back. It's reliving the agony,” Manasi Shashank Shinde, wife of the slain inspector Shashank Shinde, told The Hindu .
“We are trying to forget, but we can't. We remember every moment we spent with him.” Two months ago Ms. Shinde quit her job and now runs a gas station offered by the government as part of a scheme for the families of the 26/11 martyrs. “I have managed to keep myself busy. That's how I am trying to cope [with the situation]. On every anniversary of the incident, I only attend public functions.”
Ms. Shinde has two daughters. Her younger daughter Nivedita was only 14 when she lost her father. She was in class X then.
It was some kind of a feat when Nivedita scored 86 per cent in her Board exams. Where did she find the motivation at such a time in her life?
“Father would always tell me to do better than my sister. That drove me to perform better. My school and friends were very proud of me. They said ‘in your place we would never have been able to do it'.”
“It took time, but I coped with the loss,” said Nivedita, now in first B.Sc. “Time has helped to ease the pain, but not totally. We miss him on his birthday; on our birthdays and on a day like this.”
Her older sister Aditi is studying business management. “Aditi wanted to go abroad, but now she has dropped the idea. Because I will be all alone,” said Ms. Shinde.
Meanwhile, a pile of letters written since the November 26, 2008 terror attack has resulted in a dossier, which a disabled survivor, Sabira Khan, lugged to a press conference here on Saturday. These are her relentless appeals to the government for medical help.
Ms. Khan walks with crutches. She has had four operations which have cost the family Rs. 6 lakh. “We sold our shop, our jewellery. I am told to under go one more surgery. I am only asking the government to take care of my medical expenses. I have knocked on the doors of the Mantralaya and sent so many letters of appeal. Now I feel like I am begging. Crores are being spent on Kasab, but nothing on those who are suffering.”
Ms. Khan received Rs. 1.5 lakh. But that was no match for the bills she ran for her treatment. “My son was also injured, but we got nothing. Is our life worth Rs. 1.5 lakh?” she asked.
On the night of 26/11, “I was just resting my hand on a taxi. The passenger, a woman, got off and was paying the fare when there was an explosion. I didn't know the taxi was carrying maut ka samaan [lethal material],” said Ms. Khan.
The vehicle was blown to smithereens, causing her a hearing disability of 42 per cent, neurological disability of 43.74 per cent and an overall disability of 85.75 per cent, as per her medical records.
“Three Chief Ministers have changed since the attacks, and we have got nothing but assurances,” said her husband, Abdul Majid said. The family has filed a case in court seeking compensation for its medical expenses.
On Saturday, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya, along with some victims of 26/11, attempted to march to the Secretariat to demand compensation for the victims. He and other supporters were detained by the police.
