2000 terrorist attack on Red Fort
On 22 December 2000, a terrorist attack took place on Red Fort in Delhi, India. It was carried out by Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba. It killed two soldiers and one civilian, in what was described in the media as an attempt to derail the India-Pakistan peace talks. Red Fort is an extremely important Indian facility as it hosts the Prime Minister of India annually on August 15. The Red Fort is also significant historically as it was taken over from British control and is an iconic site in India. As a result of the attack, the Indian capital of Delhi, and India as a whole was shaken from the incident.
On December 22, 2000 starting at approximately 9:00 pm, Six Lashkar-e-Taiba militants began firing indiscriminately and gunned down three army Jawans belonging to the 7th Rajputana Rifles. The troops were placed at the fort due to the extreme importance of Red Fort within the history of India. The intruders received returning fire from the Quick Reaction Team of the battalion. All the intruders escaped the Red Fort by scaling over the boundary wall on the rear side of the complex.
A total of three soldiers lost their lives as a result of the attack. Abdullah Thakur, a civilian sentry, Rifleman Uma Shankar, and Naik Ashok Kumar were the casualties of the event. Naik Ashok Kumar succumbed to his injuries hours after the event occurred in a Delhi hospital.
The attack on Red Fort is believed to have been orchestrated by Mohd. Arif, a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant. Arif was given the death penalty by a local court, and a Delhi high court confirmed his death sentence in 2007. Arrested alongside Arif was his wife, Rehmana Yousuf Forooqui. She was arrested four days after the raid and was found guilty of the following charges: murder, criminal conspiracy, and waging war against India. The Indian courts convicted six others in October 2005, with sentences of variety of lengths. In September 2007, due to the lack of evidence, the six other assailants were released. The Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, took responsibility of the attacks. The attacks strained already tense relations between India and Pakistan.
As of April 28, 2014, according to the Economic Times, the Supreme court stayed the execution of Mohd Arif. Arif claimed that because he had already spent over 13 years imprisoned, he should no longer be hanged because of the belief that a death sentence would be equal to punishing him twice. His petition also stated that he was facing physical and mental illness due to the long judicial process. The Delhi high court denied his appeal and upheld the original conviction of capital punishment for waging a war against the state and the murder of three people. The Delhi high court reversed the convictions of the six other assailants who assisted Mohd Arif. The court reversed the life sentences of both Nazir Ahmed Qasi and Farooq Ahmed Qasid. Mohd Arif’s wife Rehmana Yusuf was given a seven-year sentence. The other three assailants, Babar Mohsin Baghwala, Sadakat Ali, and Matloob Alam were also sentenced to seven years in prison for sheltering Arif and providing him with fake Indian identity cards.
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