22 years of Parliament attack: PM Modi, Amit Shah, others pay tributes to fallen Jawans

22 years of Parliament attack: As India observes the 22nd anniversary of Parliament attack on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other top political leaders and ministers of the country reached the old Parliament building and paid their tributes to the fallen Jawans.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar also paid tribute to the fallen Jawans.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also met with the families of the Jawans who sacrificed their lives in the Parliament attack on December 13, 2001.

The floral tributes were also paid by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and other leaders were also present to pay their respects.

2001 Parliament attack

On December 13, 2001, Jagdish, Matbar, Kamlesh Kumari; Nanak Chand and Rampal, Assistant Sub-Inspectors, Delhi Police; Om Prakash, Bijender Singh, and Ghanshyam, Head Constables in Delhi Police; and Deshraj, a CPWD gardener, all sacrificed their lives defending the Parliament against a terrorist attack.

The perpetrators were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), two Pakistan-based terrorist organisations, who attacked the Parliament on December 13, 2001, killing five Delhi Police officers, two Parliament Security Service officers, one CRPF constable, and a gardener, and resulting in the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff. The terrorists had infiltrated the Parliament in a car with Home Ministry and Parliament labels.

A total of five terrorists were killed in the December 13, 2001 attack.

At the time, more than 100 people, including major politicians, were inside the parliament building. The gunmen drove a car with a fake identity sticker, easily breaching the security deployed around the parliamentary complex. Terrorists were armed with AK47 rifles, grenade launchers, and pistols.

The gunmen drove into the car of Indian Vice President Krishan Kant (who was in the building at the time), got out and started shooting. The Vice President's guards and security personnel fired back at the terrorists before closing the compound's gates.

According to Indian security agencies and Delhi Police officials, the gunmen received orders from Pakistan and the operation was carried out under the supervision of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.