PREVIEW: Prayers, police parade to commemorate Mumbai attack

Nov 25, 2009, 9:32 GMT

   New Delhi - Prayer meetings, a police parade and the re-opening of the Jewish Chabad House are among the many events scheduled Thursday to mark the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on India's financial hub Mumbai that killed more than 160 people.

   Ten heavily armed gunmen attacked several sites across Mumbai, including two luxury hotels, the city's biggest railway station and a Jewish centre, for three days beginning November 26, 2008.

   The gunmen fired indiscriminately, threw grenades and held hundreds of people hostage until security forces ended the siege.

   Among the victims were 26 foreign nationals, six of them Israelis killed at Chabad House, the Mumbai headquarters of the Jewish Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

   Chabad House will re-open Thursday with a multi-faith prayer and a memorial service for victims of the terrorist attack.

   The event will involve Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and other religious communities. Relatives of some victims were expected to attend along with local leaders and foreign dignitaries, a release from the organizer, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, said.

   The Taj Mahal Hotel, whose burning tower is indelibly fixed in public memory as a symbol of the November 2008 attack, will mark the day with the unveiling a memorial in its lobby, hotel spokeswoman Nikhila Palat said.

   The Taj Mahal and the Trident-Oberoi hotels plan private memorial services for staff members and guests who died during the attack.

   The government of the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is capital, has organized several events to mark the day including an exhibition of weaponry acquired by the police since the attack.

   'The police force would showcase its newly acquired modern weaponry to instill faith in the citizens that we are ready to face a 26/11-like crisis in a better way,' Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said earlier this month.

   Federal Home Minister P Chidambaram was scheduled to fly to Mumbai Thursday to unveil a memorial at the Police Gymkhana for 15 policemen who lost their lives during the terrorist attack.

   The police and other security agencies have scheduled a procession from the Gateway of India monument to Girgaum Chowpatty beach, Chavan said.

   A programme to honour the memory of the victims was scheduled to be held at the Gateway of India and many of their family members were expected to attend, the chief minister said.

   Events planned at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the railway station where two terrorists killed 57 people, included a blood donation camp, a floral tribute to the multi-faith prayer meeting.

   Concerts and candlelight vigils were planned in cities across India to commemorate the attack, NDTV news channel reported.