Then There Were Nine

The bodies of nine Pakistani terrorists who were part of the 26/11 attacks have become a bone of contention between Maharashtra and New Delhi. The bodies of nine Pakistani terrorists who were part of the 26/11 attacks have become a bone of contention between the Maharashtra government and New Delhi. In the absence of clear directives from the Centre, Maharashtra has been left holding on to the bodies, at considerable cost, since last November. The only directive—keep the bodies until the next order— is neither explicit nor “coherent”, says the state home department. The temperature in the special room is kept at minus 4 degrees and it is guarded round the clock by four armed policemen. The initial brief was to keep them till the Union Home Ministry cleared the decks to have them buried in Mumbai. Moreover, private embalmers have been kept out. “By keeping those bodies here, the hospital has become a sitting duck for a terrorist attack. Though there is security, we can’t screen everyone. Some decision must be taken soon. Otherwise we will have to write to the government to keep the bodies somewhere else,” says a senior doctor at the hospital.