Arundhati Speaks: 13 questions on Dec 13

TERROR SECRETS: Roy says CCTV recordings of the attack haven't been made public.

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New Delhi: Exactly five years back from this day, terrorists stormed Parliament House in a suicidal attack killing eight and injuring 18.

As the country looks back again to the daring attack on the very symbol of democracy, writer-activist Arundhati Roy poses 13 questions for the Government of India and the investigating agencies to answer.

She contends close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras recorded the entire incident live. It showed six terrorists getting out of the car. Five years later, both the CCTV recordings and the details of the sixth terrorist remain hidden from the nation

Why was the CCTV recordings not produced in the court during the trial in the case? Why was it not released for public viewing? Who was the sixth person in the car involved in the attacks?

The worst attack on the very symbol of Indian democracy left eight people dead Five terrorists were gunned down on the site in a bloody, hour-long gun battle. Five years on, the anniversary of December 13 has prompted political parties and activists groups to take pole positions in order to raise a new pitch in support of their demands.

The death sentence awarded to Mohammad Afzal Guru – the main accused for the Parliament attacks – and the mercy plea that followed have added a new twist to the story in the run-up to the December 13 anniversary this year.

While the Opposition BJP has been heckling the government over the delay in taking a decision on the mercy plea of Mohammad Afzal Guru, activists and rights groups have released a book, titled 13 December – A Reader: The Strange Case of the Attack on the Indian Parliament.

The book, a collection of essays by prominent people – including writers, activists, media persons and lawyers – raises issues regarding the whole episode and questions what they call "fabricated evidence, procedural flaws and the outright lies" that were presented in the court and published in newspapers.

Roy has been in the forefront of the campaign against the death sentence to Mohammad Afzal Guru. Writing the introduction of the book, she has raised 13 questions about December 13.

Among other things, Roy has questioned the very motive behind the military mobilisation on the Pakistan border in the immediate aftermath of December 13 attacks; sought to know the identities of the five ‘terrorists’ killed in the Parliament attack; asked security agencies to identify the 'sixth terrorist' in the car involved in the attack and also wanted to know what were the ‘incontrovertible evidence’ of Pakistan’s involvement in the attack.

Other writers of the book include AG Noorani, Ashok Mitra, Indira Jaising, Jawed Naqvi, Mihir Srivastava, Nandita Haksar, Nirmalangshu Mukherji, Praful Bidwai, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Sonia Jabbar, Syed Bismillah Geelani and Tripta Wahi. The book is scheduled to be released on Tuesday evening.

A group of citizens, led by veteran Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, has been campaigning against the death sentence for Afzal. They have also moved President APJ Abdul Kalam, saying that many questions remain unanswered with regard to Afzal’s trial and demanded a parliamentary enquiry into the whole episode. There is also an online petition demanding the same.

Next Page: Roy's 13 Questions about December 13:

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