On the thirteenth anniversary of the Mumbai
terror attack, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned a senior
diplomat of the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi and demanded “an
expeditious trial” of those accused in the deadly attack. The Indian foreign ministry said the
families of the 166 victims from 15 countries are still waiting for justice.

The ministry has also handed a verbal note
to the diplomat, whose name was not revealed, urging Pakistan to not let
terrorists use their land to wage terrorism against India.

MEA expresses anguish

“It is a matter of deep anguish that
even after 13 years of this heinous terror attack, the families of 166 victims
from 15 countries across the globe still await closure, with Pakistan showing
little sincerity in bringing the perpetrators to justice,” the MEA said in
a statement.

The MEA told the diplomat that the 26/11
terrorist attack was planned, executed and launched from Pakistani territory.

“We once again call on the government
of Pakistan to give up double standards and to expeditiously bring the
perpetrators of the horrific attack to justice,” it said.

The ministry also said India will continue
to make effort to seek justice for the families of the “victims and the
martyrs” of the attack.

“On the 13th anniversary of the 26/11
Mumbai terrorist attacks, the government and people of India somberly remember
the victims of this dastardly attack and the valiant security personnel who
laid down their lives to protect ours,” the MEA said.

On a fateful November 26 night in 2008, ten
Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists arrived in Mumbai from Karachi port on a boat and
opened fire to kill 166 people, including 18 security personnel, and injured
several others during the 60-hour siege of Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace.

In that terror attack, citizens from 15
countries lost their lives. A court trial in the case began in India in
February 2009. Ajmal Kasab, the kingpin who executed the terrorist attack, was
found guilty of 80 offences in May 2010. Ajmal Kasab’s death sentence was
carried out on November 21, 2012.

No progress in the trial in Pakistan

In Pakistan, a separate 26/11 trial began
as an official testimony of the government there that the Mumbai attack was
planned in that country. The trial started in Rawalpindi but the case never
progressed in any logical direction.

After India established the fact that the
Lashkar-e-Taiba with its front Jamaat-Ud-Dawa was behind the 26/11 Mumbai
terror attack, the trial was supposed to bring its founder Hafiz Saeed and
co-founder Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi to justice. They are the mastermind of the
Mumbai terror attack. But Pakistan had never handed over them to India and
continued to deny that the blueprint of the 26/11 terror attack was made in
Pakistan.