Mumbai, July 16 (IANS) As a gesture of support to India’s fight against terrorism, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will stay at the Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, one of the sites targeted during the 26/11 terror attacks last year, as she begins her official trip to India this Friday.
The Mumbai police consider Clinton’s decision to stay there as “very symbolic” considering that the venue is at the heart of the sites targeted during 26/11, a top police official said.

“It is heartening that the dignitary will stay there. Of course, we are making all adequate security arrangements for her stay in the city,” Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief K.P. Raghuvanshi told IANS here Thursday.

While declining to go into the details of the security set-up planned for Clinton, Raghuvanshi said that various national and US agencies have “been interacting” with the Mumbai police for some time.

It is expected that the Mumbai police and ATS will be assisted by the Rapid Action Force, State Reserve Police Force, Traffic Police, the Bomb Detection & Disposal Squad, the Dog Squad, and other state and central intelligence agencies in the 24×7 security detail lined up for Clinton.

High security shall be deployed on all the roads in south Mumbai where Clinton is expected to travel during her local engagements.

Although a spokesperson for the American Centre here said that Clinton’s programme in Mumbai is “not yet finalised,” it is widely expected that her engagements could include brief visits to a couple of terror attack sites and meeting some of the victims.

In close proximity to the Taj Hotel are other major terror-strike sites like Hotel Trident-Oberoi, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), the Nariman House in Colaba where a synagogue was targeted, and the Cama Hospital, where top cops like Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar were gunned down in encounters with terrorists.

The sole terrorist captured alive during the terror attacks, Mohammed Ajmal Amir alias Kasab of Pakistan, is housed in the Arthur Road Jail, barely five km from the Taj Hotel.