More on Mumbai Killings.

An online friend sent me these pictures yesterday. They are a stark reminder of how brazen and brutal the terrorists were during the massacre of completely innocent people.

Guests trying to escape from the hotel that was under attack.

These men were part of the Indian SWAT team.

Two innocent persons shot and killed at the Railway Station. Many were killed. What wrong had these 2 victims done to the terrorists?

NOTHING!!!

More dead and seriously injured at the Station. So many killed by just 2 terrorists as shown above in the top photo. What GREAT HARM or WRONG have these victims committed against the terrorists?

NOTHING !!!

At the Mortuary, loading the dead.

All these innocent victims...WHAT WRONG DID THEY DO AGAINST THE TERRORISTS ?

NOTHING!!!

All those who died were brutally murdered including our own Ms Lo Hwei Yen.

The terrorist organisation that planned and carried out this wholesale massacre MUST be ferreted out and DESTROYED. They are based in Pakistan. Otherwise tourists around the world should avoid going to Pakistan at all costs. Until and unless that group is destroyed completely.... SKIP Pakistan.

Michael Puhaindran.."Our final words to each other."

This is the 1st interview given by Michael Puhaindran about the final moments and the final words he had exchanged with his wife Lo Hwei Yen on that day of infamy. This online report comes from CNA News.

Husband of hostage killed in Mumbai recalls last few agonising hoursBy Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 03 December 2008 1851 hrs
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Husband of hostage killed in Mumbai recalls last few agonising hours
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Mumbai Attacks
SINGAPORE: Their final few weeks of marriage were truly the best time of his life. Breaking his silence for the first time, husband of Singaporean hostage Lo Hwei Yen killed in the Mumbai attacks, Michael Puhaindran gave an insight into the life of the 28-year-old.

Puhaindran proposed to Lo in the Maldives within eight months of meeting her.

He said: "Everything I did, I did for her. My whole life revolved around her and she truly was the meaning of my life." But after a beautiful Bali wedding, things went horribly wrong last Wednesday. The first sign of trouble came when Puhaindran received a call at midnight Singapore time when Lo heard gunshots while having dinner. "About 15 minutes later, she or I called. We spoke. She said she was in a stairwell on the 10th floor and she was with security and some staff, and they were waiting for the police," he said.

After that phone call was a few agonising silent hours of waiting. Then came another call in the early hours of the morning which confirmed Puhaindran's fears. "She was talking in a very steady voice; she was extremely brave. Her voice didn't even waver. (She said) that she was being held hostage by gunmen and she said they were armed with machine guns and grenades," said Puhaindran. He contacted Singapore authorities.

Then came the final call. "She said they said they still see activity, still in a very steady voice and still talking to me. I was trying to remain calm as well. Only in her last sentence, she said 'please tell them to hurry up'. And that's when I couldn't really take it, and said that I love her very much, and she said the same thing. So at least the last words I said to her were those words," Puhaindran continued.

Puhaindran recalled her last final e-mail. "This one came in about 6.36 am Singapore time. She ended off by saying if I don't make it out of here I love you all. Despite everything she was facing, she still had the strength and courage to tell her friends she loved them. I do want you to tell people she was a brave Singaporean," Puhaindran added.

Finally on Friday, he was let into the Oberoi hotel. He said: "They were still detonating grenades. Initially they did not want us go back but MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) got us permission to get to the 19th floor. Everything was pitch black because there was no electricity. The floors were slippery. I think the sprinklers must have gone off. Then (they) showed her to me and I was able to touch her cheek and she still looked very beautiful."

While questions remain unanswered about the siege, for many like Puhaindran who lost loved ones during the terror attacks, picking up the pieces from here will now be hardest. "She would want me to live my life but it's going to be very hard,” said Puhaindran. -CNA/vm

Unk Dicko pays his Respect !

Teresa Ville, the condo apartments off Lower Delta Road, rests in a serene, quiet and peaceful haven, not too far of from the Blangah Hills. At about 4.30 pm this afternoon I gently drove myself there, parked near the white tented area. All around and on both sides of the driveway were wreaths of beautiful flowers and more elsewhere. The scene was so peaceful....unlike the violence and carnage at Mumbai just days ago.

Unk Dicko was there to pay his Respects to the late Ms Lo Hwei Yen...S'pore's 1st victim of a terrorist attack.

Just before going in, I met Tng Kim Guan who was behind me. ( Tng K G was with me at the 1st Singapore Gunung Tahan Expedition in April 1969. I have written an extensive 1st person account of the Historic climb in this blogsite. See ...February 2008 Archives for the full story, over 31 posts. ).

We walked in together and signed the Condolence Book.

Rodney Tan and Robert Tan ( ex-TTC YLTC ) saw us and signalled to S Puhaindran and his wife Mary that we had arrived. Puhaindran's 1st words to me was," Hi Dick..was expecting you." My response was," Dear ole friend Puhaindran....I am so sorry this has happened."while clutching him. We consoled Mary too with some comforting words.

At the table, after we sat down, Puhaindran and Mary recounted what had happened in the final moments of the life of their beautiful daughter-in-law, Hwei Yen.

Most of the details of this story are already out in the mass media.

But there were a few things we learnt that I will not release here.

The conversations at our table was all about the Mumbai attack and what precisely took place at the Oberoi Hotel where Hwei Yen was eventually killed. Mary and Stanley P filled us in.

Rodney mentioned that he has read about the great Intelligence failure of the Indian side. The police and other personnel that reacted and confronted the terrorists in the initial stages of the attack were not trained for such incidents...and thus not only suffered casualties but may have made the crisis worse in terms of fatalities.

I concurred, giving my assessment from all the many reports I've read mostly online.

We spent about an hour there and before we left went once again to pay our most humble respects at the casket bearing Hwei Yen's body. She was serene and peaceful and clothed in a red cheongsam.

I whispered to Puhaindran that they had done a good job knowing she was shot in the head and abdomen as well.

He whispered back to me," her head......behind the ear ".

Photo:

Mary, Tng K Guan, Stanley, unk Dicko

Photo:

Mary, Rodney, Tng K G and S Puhaindran

I mentioned to Puhaindran that D2 my wife, would have come with me too. But right then, even as we were there talking, she is in Chengdu, the state capital of Szechuan Province, China. With her expertise as a Principal, she helped set up a new school in the aftermath of the Great Earthquake. She was there for the Opening of this newly built school and to further enhance the teachers, the set-up and other know how.
( See my blogpost on the Szechuan earthquake at archives 2008 ).

Photo:

Michael Puhaindran, unk Dicko and Tng K G


I told Michael " We are here to show our support. I knew your father a long time ago. Try to be Strong".

Rodney comforting Michael, Hwei Yen's loving husband.

A Miracle and A Nightmare in Mumbai.

Source: The Daily Mail

This is a Tragic story of a 2 year old miraculous survivor of the MUMBAI Massacre.
It really pains my heart to read this. But the evil that was done must be exposed and publicised as much as possible. It is yet another awakening call for all of us, for governments and especially the so -called "Intelligence Services" ( some are obviously not so intelligent after all ).
He is only 2 years old, loved and cherished by his youngish parents. But what trauma and harrowing nightmare this sweet, innocent child had endured and seen...no one will ever know save GOD. And I just wonder HOW THEY WILL ANSWER TO THE RIGHTEOUS GOD, one day, for this GREAT EVIL they did.
For right before his eyes, his mother and father were brutally murdered by the COWARDS that came into his peaceful home.
Yes, the terrorists are COWARDS of the worst kind when they take on innocent and defenceless people...like killing Ms Lo Hwei Yen, one of our own innocent citizens.

Pictured: Tears of the two-year-old boy trapped in Mumbai Jewish centre as his parents were murdered.

What horrors has this two-year-old child seen? And how much does he understand?
His face wracked with sobs as he cries for his mother, tiny Moshe Holtzberg has had a miraculous escape: He was inside the Jewish centre stormed by Islamic militants during last week's Mumbai attacks.
His rabbi father and mother were both murdered by the militants. Moshe was rushed to safety - drenched in blood - after his nanny found him crying by their bodies.

Clutching a toy basketball, his face contorted by tears, this is Moshe Holtzberg at today's memorial service for his parents. The two-year-old orphan's rabbi father and mother were murdered in Mumbai's Jewish centre

Horror scene: Blood spatters the walls inside the Jewish centre where Moshe was trapped as Islamic gunmen killed his parents during last week's attacks
He only turned two this week. Today he attended the emotionally-charged memorial service for his parents at a Mumbai synagogue before being flown to Israel.
Now he is safe in the care of his mother's parents - but what effect the trauma of his horrifying ordeal has had on him remains to be seen.
'I don't know that he can comprehend or that he will remember seeing his parents shot in cold blood,' said Robert Katz, a New York-based fund-raiser for an Israeli orphanage founded by the boy's family.


'When the baby emerged with the nanny, he had blood stains on him,' Benjamin Isaac, secretary of the Indian Jewish Federation, said.
'Thankfully it wasn't his blood. But we knew someone's blood had already been spilled.'
Last Wednesday, two gunmen had stormed the six-storey Nariman House, which housed the centre in Mumbai's Colaba area.
Bullet marks cover the walls of Naiman House, showing the intensity of the firefight when commandos burst in in an attempt to free the hostages
The house is at a nondescript address on a small street - but it is close to the plush hotels and railway station which bore the brunt of a string of attacks by the heavily-armed militants.
They took eight people hostage inside Nariman House, including the wife and child of Israeli-born Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29.
The young rabbi arrived in Mumbai in 2003 to run a synagogue and Torah classes as part of the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch Movement.
Moshe's nanny, Sandra Samuel was on the first floor of the building when the gunmen arrived. She locked herself in a room in a desperate bid to stay alive.
At one point she heard Moshe's mother Rivkah screaming "Sandra help!" Then the screaming stopped, and it was quiet, Mr Katz said
'The whole night I heard gunshots and loud blasts,' she said in a statement to police.
'Next morning it was quiet for a while, when I heard the baby crying.'

Moshe's grandmother Yehudit Rosenberg and member of the family's domestic staff console him during the service today
Samuel quietly unbolted the door, and went up to the second floor where she found Moshe crying, his pants drenched in blood, next to the bodies of his parents.
She picked him up and dashed out through the blood-spattered rooms to safety.
A handyman who worked for the family also managed to escape.
As the siege of the building dragged on, elite commandos were dropped by helicopter onto the roof of the building, the same men who would later blast their way through the centre, ending the stand-off after almost two days of intense fighting.
But by then the militants had killed the remaining hostages, including Holtzberg and his 28-year-old wife, Rivka.


At a police station on Thursday, Moshe sat clutching a grimy doll surrounded by Jewish volunteers, while Samuel described her horrifying ordeal.
He has since been handed to his maternal grandparents, Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg, who flew to India from Israel with members of ZAKA, Israel's non-governmental rescue-and-recovery organisation which specialises in collecting human remains to ensure a proper Jewish burial.
His nanny Sandra flew to Israel with him after today's memorial service 'so at least he has someone he knows and recognizes and loves,' said Mr Katz.
Describing Moshe's reunion with his grandparents, Mr Katz said: 'It was pure raw emotion, tears of joy, tears of sorrow, incredible emotion - understandably out of control.'
Fewer than 5,000 Jews remain living among India's billion-plus people, but the faith has a long history here, with the first established community thought to have been formed in the south-western state of Kerala before AD 70.

The photograph shows the inside of Nariman House after the commando operation
The attack on Nariman House pitched Mumbai's tiny Jewish community into the the glare of the world's media and its members say they now feel vulnerable.
Israeli officials say the Chabad centre was targeted for being Jewish. A Los Angeles-based member of the movement said there was no knowledge of specific threats prior to the attacks.
But he said there had since been reports the gunmen had rented an apartment in a nearby building at some stage, something also reported by Indian media without quoting sources.
'Actually, we have been very concerned for sometime now,' the Indian Jewish Federation's Isaac said. 'We had been expecting something like this.'
For the moment the community's are thoughts with Moshe.
The toddler has one older sibling who has Tay-Sachs, a genetic disorder particularly prevalent in Jews of Eastern European origin. He is permanently hospitalized in Israel, Katz said. The couple's first-born child died of Tay-Sachs.
In a sad coincidence, Moshe's grand-uncle, Rabbi Yitzchak David Grossman is founder of the Migdal Ohr, which says it is Israel's largest facility for orphaned and disadvantaged children.
The Foreign Ministry said the government would arrange official funeral send representatives to the ceremonies, as it does for victims of attacks at home.
'There are going to be thousands of people at this funeral,' said Mr Katz.
'This couple wasn't living in the West Bank. They weren't settlers. They weren't occupying anyone's land. They were killed because they were Jews, simple and plain.'
'The boy's security is of utmost concern to us,' said Jonathan Solomon, a prominent community leader.
'He had been crying. He is too small you see, and all this must be affecting him so much.'

The son and his loving father

The young couple who were cruelly murdered.



The terrible carnage in their home.

Absolutely and Cowardly EVIL !!!

The many faces of EVIL !

Just look at them, openly carrying their firearms and other weapons walking around and brutally shooting at anyone they saw! These are the same evil cowards who, without their weapons , would be begging for their own lives to be spared.

Source: The Daily Mail

These are some of the images of the EVIL monsters who carried out the dastardly attacks on ordinary people at various locations in Mumbai ( old name Bombay...the last time unk Dicko was there in the 70's ).

According to the latest reports, all the dozen or so terrorists have been killed by Indian commandos except for one, who under interrogation revealed a most EVIL agenda. Their target was to cold bloodedly KILL 5000 innocent people and to blow up entire hotels like the Taj Mahal.

The death toll from their well-planned attacks is now close to 300, including foreigners from many countries

A Singaporean lawyer, Lo Hwei Yen 28 years old and only married last year to Michael Puhaindran, the son of well-known community leader Mr S Puhaindran, was "executed in cold blood" as a hostage.

She became Singapore's only fatal victim of a terrorist attack.

Her remains were flown home on Sunday for the funeral on Thursday.

There is a huge outpouring of grief and sadness for this lovely, bright and spirited young lady at the prime of her life...by all Singaporeans.

I am outrage!

We should all be outrage!

WHAT OR WHO GIVE THESE SO CALLED TERRORISTS THE RIGHT OR THE MORAL AUTHORITY TO SIMPLY GO OUT AND END THE LIVES OF INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO QUARREL WITH THEM, NEVER SCOLDED THEM, HAVE NOT HARMED A SINGLE HAIR ON THEIR DIRTY HEADS, ETC...???

WHO OR WHAT INDEED?

The same burnt-out shell of the posh bar shown above., after the attack.

One of those evil ones himself killed by security forces.
They came from a mother ship in inflatables such as this.

What happened to the Indian Navy or Sea Defence forces? Where were they ? What were they doing? What happened to their Intelligence Services? These questions are not of my asking but of the local community, according to reports. And justifiably so...I would say.

The landmark Taj Mahal Hotel burning.

The comment made by a reader in my previous post...that at least in our home country we do not take things for granted, is pertinent. Such founding cornerstones as inter-racial and religious harmony, a healthy respect for each other's race, language, culture and beliefs. However, it is easy to draft such Memos of Understanding, even on a National level. To see that they are observed sacredly and kept by one and all is another matter. To ensure this set of sacrosant foundations are always upheld, we need to have STRONG LAWS to deter and deal with those or anyone who is out to break the peace. We also need to have an alert and intelligent team of well integrated and well co-ordinated people at all levels of our security, intelligence and armed forces organisations.

We cannot afford another MAS SELAMAT hiatus! That may just be the breakthrough the terrorists need.

Terrorists are nothing but COWARDS!

It was early today that I discovered that an innocent Singaporean hostage was killed by the Mumbai terrorists. The net was flooded by many reports. Some used the word "murdered" and some said "executed in cold blood !" Whatever word is used will not change the fact that a sweet innocent life has been cruelly snuffed out by.....COWARDS and "*#!!*#@ !!!" of the worst kind!
Photo:
Mrs and Mr S Puhaindran, Michael and Hwei Yen, Mrs and Mr Lo.
For how could the taking of such an innocent life of a non-combatant contribute to the cause of these EVIL and DESPICABLE men who call themselves whatever.... terrorist, holy jihadist, freedom fighters, ad nauseum.
I was doubly shocked when I discovered who she was. D2 and I both were familiar with Mr S Puhaindran, her father-in-law. We knew him from our work in education a long time ago. Mr S Puhaindran was a teacher in R I. As for me, I had known him since my early scouting years when he was a scoutmaster at RI. They had 2 scout troops, the 2nd and the 32nd. Later, I was to meet him in my PE and sports work over the years. He was also very much a PE and sports person too. In fact, in 2005 November when I was warded at Changi General Hospital for my Achilles Tendon surgery, one young lady staff member attending to me had "Puhaindran" on her name tag. When I asked if by any chance she is connected to the S Puhaindran I know...she replied, " yes, he's my father!". I then requested her to send him my warm compliments. D2 has met him in many grassroot events too.

D2 and I would like to offer our sincerest CONDOLENCES to the family of Lo Hwei Yen and to
Mr S Puhaindran and family, especially Michael.
All Singaporeans share your tragic loss.
SINGAPORE will not forget!

Report by Leong Wee Keat of TODAY, 29 N0v 2008.

Mumbai Attacks - Special Report
SINGAPORE: When she met friends at a wedding two weeks ago, Ms Lo Hwei Yen told them that she was headed to India for work. She seemed excited about the trip, said the friends who met her. On Friday, Ms Lo, 28, was identified as the Singaporean hostage held in the Mumbai terror attacks. Her body was found on the 19th floor of the Oberoi Hotel. Friends whom TODAY spoke to expressed shock and sadness at the sudden loss. “She was so young,” said a former Victoria Junior College classmate, who declined to be named. Another who saw her at the wedding said: “She seemed very radiant the last two times I saw her. I was very happy for her.” Ms Lo, the eldest of three sisters, was engaged to Mr Michael Puhaindran in 2006 and they got married in Bali last year. Friends described Ms Lo — who also attended Methodist Girls’ School — as “bubbly”, “bright”, “confident” and “outgoing”. At National University of Singapore, she was an active student who took part in many activities. Friends from law school said she was popular and known by many, including her juniors. A former colleague who had known her since 2005 said: “She was bright and outgoing like any young lawyer entering the profession. It seemed the world was her oyster.” Ms Lo was at law firm Drew and Napier between 2004 to 2006. She left it for a brief stint at another law firm Rajah and Tann, before she joined international law firm Stephenson Harwood where she had worked since last year. Rumours of Ms Lo’s fate had been circulating since Friday afternoon. On Friday evening, as word about a media briefing was to be held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spread, one friend, who knew her, spoke for many when he said: “Many of her friends are still hoping there is some good news.” As friends turned to news websites about the Mumbai attacks, Ms Lo’s name stood out for some. Said a former junior college schoolmate: “Her name was quite unique among all those I knew. Most are Hui Yan or Hwee Yen. She’s Hwei Yen with an ‘I’, with a nice radiant smile. She will always stand unique in her friends’ hearts.” - TODAY