2001 Indian Parliament attack

2001 Indian Parliament attack
Location	New Delhi, India
Date	December 13, 2001 (UTC+5.5)
Target	Parliament of India building
Attack type	Shooting
Deaths	7 (and 5 terrorists)
Injured	12
Perpetrators	Kashmiri terrorists

The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a high-profile attack by Pakistan based Kashmiri terrorists against the building housing the Parliament of India in New Delhi. The attack lead to the killing of a dozen people and led to increased tensions between India and Pakistan and the 2001-2002 India-Pakistan standoff.

The attack

On December 13, 2001, five gunmen infiltrated the Parliament House in a car with Home Ministry and Parliament labels. While both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha had been adjourned forty minutes prior to the incident, many Members of Parliament (MPs) and government officials such as Home Minister LK Advani and Minister of State (Defence) Harin Pathak were believed to have still been in the building at the time of the attack. (Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Opposition Leader Sonia Gandhi had already left). The gunmen slammed their vehicle into the car of the Indian Vice President Krishan Kant (who was in the building at the time), got out, and began firing their weapons. The Vice President's guards and security personnel shot back at the terrorists and then started closing the gates of the compound. The lady constable Kamlesh Kumari was first to spot the terrorist squad. One gunman, wearing a suicide vest, was shot dead, the vest exploding. The other four gunmen were also killed. Five policemen, a Parliament security guard, and a gardener were killed, and 18 others were injured. No members of the government were hurt.

Response

World leaders and leaders in India's immediate neighbourhood condemned the attack on the Parliament. On December 14, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack. Home Minister LK Advani claimed, "[w]e have received some clues about yesterday's incident, which shows that a neighbouring country, and some terrorist organisations active there behind it", in an indirect reference to Pakistan and Pakistan-based terrorist groups. The same day, in a demarche to Pakistani High Commissioner to India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, India demanded that Pakistan stop the activities of LeT and JeM, that Pakistan apprehend the organisations' leaders and that Pakistan curb the financial assets and the groups access to these assets. In response to the Indian government's statements, Pakistani forces were put on high alert the same day. Pakistan military spokesman Major-General Rashid Qureshi claimed that the Parliament attack was a "drama staged by Indian intelligence agencies to defame the freedom struggle in occupied Kashmir" and further warned that India would pay "heavily if they engage in any misadventure". On December 20, India mobilised and deployed its troops to Kashmir and Punjab in what was India's largest military mobilization since the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War amid calls from the United States and the United Nations (UN) on India to exercise restraint.

India arrested scores of people following the attack, and in December 2002 convicted four Jaish-e-Mohammed members for roles in the attack, charging they had planned to seize the Parliament House. In 2003, India said its forces had killed the mastermind of the attack in Kashmir.

Mohammad Afzal, who is convicted of being part of conspiracy, was sentenced to death by Indian court. He was to be hanged on October 20, 2006, but the sentence was stayed. His family had camped in New Delhi to meet the then President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam to accept the mercy petition. Also the family of Kamlesh Kumari, a CRPF Jawan (Indian infantry foot soldier) who died in the attack has said that they will return the Ashok Chakra awarded to her if the president accepts the petition, but it is unclear if she had done it.