NEWS

Modi announces Rs 1 cr for slain cops' kin

By Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai
November 28, 2008

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that his government would give Rs one crore to the Maharashtra government to be dispersed to the kin of the deceased in the multiple terror attacks in Mumbai.

Taking on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Modi said Dr Singh's address to the nation on Thursday evening was much below expectations.

The country had pinned a lot of hope on the prime minister, but his address was disappointing, Modi said.

Squarely blaming Pakistan for the attacks in Mumbai, the Gujarat chief minister claimed that terrorists had used boats seized from Indian fishermen by Pakistani Marine Police to launch attacks against India.

"I had warned the Centre about the use of such boats to launch terror attacks against us at a meeting of chief ministers convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year," he said.

Modi said he hoped that the government would raise the issue of its neighbour's actions at appropriate levels diplomatically.

He said the terror strikes in Mumbai were an attack on the sovereignty of the nation and asked the people to unite to root out the menace.

"This is for the first time Pakistan has allowed use of sea routes to further terrorism against India," Modi said at the Oberoi-Trident hotel in south Mumbai, where operation is underway to flush out militants holed up there.

The targets of the attacks were US, British and Israeli citizens, Modi added.

Modi, who visited the residence of Anti Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare -- killed in the attack on Wednesday -- said that the nation should join hands in the fight against terrorism.

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai

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