Nation pays tributes to Parliament attack martyrs

New Delhi, Dec 13 (UNI) The nation today paid tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives while defending Parliament from the terrorist attack on December 13, 2001.

Vice-President Mohd Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee were among those who paid floral tributes to the martyrs on the sixth anniversary of the attack on Parliament.

However, the pain of losing their loved ones on the fateful day refused to die down with a family member of a victim complaining that the Centre had not fulfilled the promises made.

Vimla Devi, the wife of late ASI Nanak Chand, narrated her grievances in a choked voice, saying land for a petrol pump which had been promised as part of compensation following the killing of her husband, was yet to be allotted.

The function was also attended by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Defence Minister A K Antony and Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and BJP MPs Sushma Swaraj, and V K Malhotra.

Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha Rehman Khan, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani also paid floral tributes.

In recognition of the selfless sacrifices of those killed in the attack, Jagdish Prasad Yadav, Matbar Singh Negi and Mrs Kamlesh Kumari, were posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra.

Nanak Chand, Rampal, Om Prakash, Bijender Singh and Ghanshyam were posthumously awarded the Kirti Chakra.

A blood donation camp was also organised at Parliament House on the occasion by the Indian Red Cross Society.

Demanding that attack convict Afzal Guru be hanged at the earliest, Shiv Sena activists in a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil, urged her to facilitate his hanging along with other terrorists lodged in various jails, ''which would be the actual tribute to the martyrs of the Parliament attack''.

The BJP also took exception to the attempts of the UPA government for delaying the execution and reminded the government that it had been over a year that the revision petition of the convict had been rejected by the Supreme Court.

The party said the Government owed an explanation on how many more elections it needed to come to a decision on his clemency petition.

Six Delhi police personnel, one gardener and five terrorists were killed in the terrorist attack.

UNI