Five years on, Mumbai train blast victims to meet PM
July 6th, 2011 - 5:42 pm ICT by IANS
Mumbai, July 6 (IANS) A delegation of victims of the 2006 train bomb blasts here will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next week to demand a uniform policy for compensation for those affected by terrorist violence and a fast track court to hear their case.
Five years after 189 people were killed when serial blasts rocked suburban trains on July 11, 2006, the victims, led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya, will travel to New Delhi to press for their demands.
“These people have been suffering for so many years now, and after five years, the hearing has just begun in the lowest court. At this rate, it will be another decade before the final verdict will be pronounced,” Somaiya, who has taken up the cause, told IANS.
The delegation will press for a fast track court on the lines of the one set up to hear the 26/11 case.
Besides, a 100-member group of victims will also meet Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan on the fifth anniversary of the bombings that also left 1,000 injured, some permanently.
According to Somaiya, the 26/11 trial in a special court ended within two years.
“This was because there were foreign nationals among the victims and there was international pressure to punish the main culprit, Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab,” Somaiya alleged.
While the list of people wanted in the 26/11 case has been handed over to Pakistan, the same was not done for the train bombings case.
“There are as many as 13 Pakistanis who are wanted in this (suburban trains serial blasts) case, so why was the list not give to Pakistan,” he asked.
The former Mumbai MP said the delegation would urge the central and state governments to formulate a permanent, uniform policy for the relief and rehabilitation of terror attack victims.
“In the 11/7 case, many people have yet to be awarded compensation and medical treatment expenses. In bomb blasts, multiple surgeries are required to be performed, so the help should be appropriate to take care of all such expenses,” Somaiya said.
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