Mrs. Ruchi Ghanashyam is the former High Commissioner of India to the UK. With a career in Indian Foreign Service for over 38 years, she has been posted in many countries including South Africa, Ghana, before arriving in the UK. She was only the second woman High Commissioner to the UK since India’s independence and during her tenure, she witnessed a number of significant developments in the UK-India relations.
Last week, on 26 November, India remembered the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks on their 14th anniversary. On this day in 2008, 10 terrorists entered the city of Mumbai through sea route from Pakistan, ravaging it for 4 days, killing 166 people, including 26 foreign nationals, injuring more than 300 people, and terrorising not just the people of Mumbai, but the rest of India too.
"It is incumbent on us, as responsible members of the international community to remember their trauma and to persevere in our efforts to bring the perpetrators of terrorism to justice," India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said. He asked that "those who planned and oversaw this attack must be brought to justice", and said "We owe this to every victim of terrorism around the world”, as terrorism threatens humanity. He reminded that India’s efforts to sanction those involved in the 26/11 terror attacks have been blocked in the past for "political reasons", enabling them to walk free and organise further cross-border assaults against the country.
China, has over the years, put on hold proposals submitted by India to the UN Security Council to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Hafiz Saeed, Shahid Mahmood, Sajid Mir, senior Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) leader Abdul Rauf Azhar and Abdul Rehman Makki under the Al Qaeda Sanctions regime.
While the terrorist attacks of 26/11 changed India forever, there were several people whose unmatched bravery remains an inspiration even today. Amongst them, was Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Chief Hemant Karkare, who led from the front and fought bravely till his last breath. In 2009, he was posthumously given the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime gallantry decoration. The other bravehearts who made the ultimate sacrifice were encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and senior police officer Ashok Kamte martyred outside the Cama Hospital. Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Tukaram Omble singlehandedly nabbed Ajmal Kasab alive despite heavy injuries after being shot multiple times. This later exposed Pakistan’s involvement in the heinous act.
There were several bravehearts at the Taj hotel, whose courage saved the lives of several guests. The GM of Taj Hotel, Karambir Singh Kang administered the evacuation of guests from the hotel despite losing his own wife and son who were stuck in the sixth floor. Separately, Mallika Jagad, a hotel staff, led about 60 guests to safety. Along with other staff, Jagad locked the banquet doors, turned off the lights, and asked the guests to remain silent, until they were spotted by the fire crew and helped to escape through the window.
Team commander of 51 Special Action Group, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan defended his fellow commandos and guests trapped in the Taj Hotel until he was shot dead in Operation Black Tornado.
Stories of courage emerged from other quarters too, even as many tales of bravery will go unknown! Nanny Sandra Samuel saved 2-year-old Moshe Holtzberg from terrorists who opened fire at the Nariman House that killed many including his parents. She was employed as a caretaker at a Jewish outreach centre known as the Nariman House, which was targeted by terrorists.
Staff nurse Anjali Kulthe in the Cama and Albless Hospital for Women and Children, Mumbai saved 20 pregnant women from terrorists that stormed into the hospital. As she saw two terrorists, identified later as Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail, storm into the gates of the hospital and kill the guards, she closed the heavy double doors of the antenatal care ward and moved the pregnant women along with their family members to a small pantry space, at the far end of the ward. She and the doctors, helped one of the pregnant women to successfully give birth while fighting was going on between police and terrorists.
The 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks did not derail the progress of the country. India has burst upon the global scene after 2008. Earlier in November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accepted the ceremonial gavel from Indonesian President Joko Widodo at a handover event during the conclusion of the G20 summit in Bali. In an article in ‘The Print’ dated 27 November, Antara Baruah recalls that G20 comprises 19 countries and the European Union, and that the G20 members represent more than 80 percent of world GDP, 75 percent of international trade and 60 percent of the world’s population.
India’s G20 presidency will be “inclusive, ambitious, decisive, and action-oriented”, PM Modi said as he thanked President Widodo at the event. He held separate meetings with the leaders of Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore and the U.K. Speaking at the closing ceremony, PM Modi said, “India is taking charge of the G20 at a time when the world is simultaneously grappling with geopolitical tensions, economic slowdown, rising food and energy prices, and the long-term ill-effects of the pandemic,” adding that India would give priority to “women-led development” in its G20 agenda, which would be driven by the theme of “One Earth, One Family, One Future”. India’s geographical and cultural diversity will be showcased during the year, in approximately 200 G20 meetings at different locations across the country.
Countries supporting, nurturing or sposonsoring terrorism need to take a leaf out of India’s book. India’s confident march to development and greater prosperity shows the benefit of a positive and focussed agenda.
