|
Terrible Tuesday
On September
24, the nation watched in horror as two terrorists of the little-known
Tehreek-e-Kasak group sneaked into the Swaminarain Temple at Gandhinagar
in Gujarat and opened fired on innocent devotees, killing atleast 29 people
and injuring over 100. Special Correspondent Uday
Mahurkar relives the spine-tingling
14-hour stand-off.
It
was 5.25 p.m. As I entered Chief Minister Narendra Modi's
chamber to keep my appointment, a sombre yet stoic Modi said we couldn't
meet. "Terrorists have entered Akshardham," he informed. The
next thing I knew he was calling up Union Home Minister L.K. Advani, requesting
him to send NSG commandos even as officers had begun to troop into his
chamber hurriedly. Equally shaken, I ran out of the room to meet Modi's
Principal Secretary P.K. Mishra. Even before Mishra had finished briefing
me about the facts, I received a call from Aaj Tak for a phone
-in. As I was speaking to the channel I could hear a telephonic conversation
between an anxious official and somebody at the site of the massacre.
It revealed that the death toll was up from two to six.
My phone-in
over, I rushed to Akshardham at breakneck speed and managed to reach the
main gate, where by now a huge, anxious crowd had gathered. It is just
2 km away from the CMO. The local police had reached there much earlier.
The noise of
the intermittent fire exchange could be distinctly heard although the
trouble spot was a good 150 metres away from the main
gate inside the massive complex. In between, policemen and volunteers
could be seen taking out those who were shot dead
or injured. By 6 p.m., the medical back-up with ambulances was in place.
The bodies
of two children left everybody in a daze. As did
those of the women. As the crowds swelled, there was
complete chaos. By 7 p.m., the policemen who were injured in the crossfire
could be seen being removed on stretchers amids cries of "Bharat
Mata Ki Jai " and " Mushraf Murdabad".
By 8 p.m.
I managed to get across the main gate where a host
of police officials, ministers and doctors—to give first-aide to
the injured—were camping. Everybody was anxious but strangely
unafraid. There was a rare determination to fight the odds despite the
death of two Gujarat police jawans and injury to
half a dozen others. While all this was happening, I was constantly in
touch with my bosses in Delhi on my mobile.
It went
on like this till 10 p.m. when the first NSG team, flown
down from Delhi, landed. It was followed by two truck loads
later. Only a little earlier, a saffron-clad Swami had been seriously
hit.
The NSG
began its operation around 12.30 a.m.. Intermittent
exchange of fire could be heard along with a slow trickle of what
was going on inside from police officers helping the NSG. The
long night seemed endless.
Meanwhile,
in the Gandhinagar Civil Hospital, bodies lay in the
post-mortem room of little children, of mothers and husbands,
all victims of man's madness.
By 7 a.m.,
an announcement was made that two terrorists have been shot dead. All
of us—journalists, volunteers, politicians,
doctors—heaved a sigh of relief. But what about those who had
lost their dear ones? The damage was irreversible.
|
