'If we have to restrict and fight terrorism, first and foremost, we have to ensure communal harmony in the country.'
P Chidambaram and Rajeev Shukla of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party's Sumitra Valmiki and Kavita Patidar, former Congress leader Kapil Sibal, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Misa Bharti and Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal were among the 41 winners declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha.
Even though MLAs are required to show their ballot to respective party whips before casting their vote, all parties have ensured their MLAs are housed in five star hotels closer to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha where voting will take place on June 10.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Wednesday sought answers from the United Progressive Alliance citing an interview of former central Home Secretary Ram Pradhan which said he had told the then Home Minister about a local mole who allegedly helped carry out 26/11 attacks.
Even as the Maharashtra government claims it is implementing in phases the Ram Pradhan committee report, which examined the government's response to the 26/11 terror attacks, gaping holes still exist in the security apparatus.
The Maharashtra government has tabled the Action Taken Report in the state assembly on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. The Assembly had to be adjourned for 20 minutes amid pandemonium as opposition Shiv Sena-BJP demands tabling of Ram Pradhan panel report on 26/11 attacks.
Maharashtra Home Secretary Umesh Chandra Sarangi on Saturday said the state government had implemented over 70 per cent of recommendations of the Ram Pradhan Committee, which was appointed after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Observing that it is the state government and police's duty to protect and thwart untoward incidents like terror acts, the Bombay high court on Thursday sought a compliance report from Maharashtra government on what measures it has taken post 26/11 terror attacks.
Turning the table on the opposition, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra has now raised doubts over the very authenticity of the Ram Pradhan panel report that was leaked to media recently.
The Ram Pradhan Commission which probed the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks has found that the intelligence alerts provided by Central agencies were treated 'casually' and 'mechanically forwarded' to operational units by the director general of police office, anti terrorist squad and the home department.
The Ram Pradhan Committee report on the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai has revealed that the Maharashtra intelligence chief never received inputs of Central spy agencies prior to the mayhem unlike the Director General of Police's office, which received alerts from the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing.
It was a sudden decision of the three deceased police officers -- Anti-Terrorists Squad chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and Police Inspector Vijay Salaskar to go from the front side of Cama Hospital entrance and finally got killed along with three other colleagues, by terrorists in an ambush, Ram Pradhan Commission report has said by quoting an eyewitness.
The high-level committee that probed the Mumbai 26/11 attacks has blamed the management of Taj and Oberoi hotels for ignoring the security advice given to them much ahead of the terror strikes.
The Maharashtra government on Monday tabled in the state assembly the Ram Pradhan committee report on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, which cited instances of non-adherence to the Standard Operating Practice during the terror siege.
The opposition on Monday created uproar in the Maharashtra assembly demanding tabling of the report of Ram Pradhan Commission, which probed the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, prompting the speaker to adjourn the House three times.
"The copy given to me by the Opposition has no relation with the four copies we have. No photo copy of the original report went out," Chavan informed the Legislative Council, replying to the issue raised by the Opposition leaders.
Highlighting Maharashtra government's laxity in tackling the 26/11 terror attacks, the Ram Pradhan Committee report has pointed out that a study group formed after July 2006 train blasts, for suggesting measures to heighten security in the megapolis and other cities, has failed to submit its report so far.
The Ram Pradhan committee that went into the response by the police to the 26/11 attacks has pointed out "total confusion" in processing of Intelligence alerts at the level of the state government and "inadequacies" in the existing mechanism for analysing alerts about possible strikes.
Amid reports that the Ram Pradhan probe has raised questions on the supervision and coordination of the police force during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the demand for making the findings public grew loud on Monday night.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday rejected the finding of the Ram Pradhan committee on the 26/11 terror attacks that the then Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Gafoor had "failed" to lead the force during the terrorist strikes last November
The oil mafia sheltered the 10 Pakistani terrorists in Machhimarnagar in Colaba and in fact a woman even showed Ajmal Kasab and his accomplice the way to Cama and Albless Hospital. The many theories floated before the Ram Pradhan committee, that looked into the attacks.
Mumbai is observing the sixth anniversary of the dastardly attacks that shook the city
'These ISIS terrorists want to smash Western civilisation, smash India. For the time being though, their main target would be the US and Europe.'
"Even though the first Sino-Indian war took place in 1962, the Chinese incursion had started taking place in 1957. The government knew it but it did not inform the public. After five decades, the same thing is happening as the Chinese incursion has been taking in Aksai Chin for long, but we have woken up now," said Ram Pradhan, former Union home secretary and former governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
Saroj Kumar Rath, author of the newly-published book Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks, speaks to Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
'Headley's testimony indicates to what extent the Pakistan government and its proxies can go to destroy not only Indian scientific talent but also international expertise.'
Vinita Bisht and Vinita Kamte lost their husbands -- one an NSG commando, the other an IPS officer -- in the 26/11 terror attack. Six years later, Archana Masih/Rediff.com meets them to discover that closure is one of the hardest things to find.