Hundreds honour Mumbai bomb victims

Dec 4 2008

Hundreds of businessmen and women stood in silent solidarity at a candlelit vigil to honour those who died in the Mumbai terrorist attacks one week ago.

The one-hour ceremony took place at London's Canary Wharf on Wednesday evening as commuters left work, and was intended to show support for India's financial centre in the wake of the massacre.

Among the many people paying tribute to the dead was London-based businessman Hiro Harjani whose nephew was in Mumbai visiting relatives at the time of the attacks.

Tragically, Mohit Harjani, 32, who ran a business in Dubai, and his wife Lavina, 28, were having dinner at the ground-floor restaurant at the Oberoi Hotel when gunmen burst in and both were killed.

"We need solidarity," said Mr Harjani, 47, who learnt of his family's loss on Friday morning in a phone call from his father.

"We need to get together like this. I'm going to support every event.

"We need answers. We need the global community to be aware and to take more action.

"This is not just an India and Pakistan problem, it's a world problem. It could spark a third world war."

He added: "We have to keep making noises until everyone wakes up."

Mr Harjani, who runs a fashion business, said that the death of his nephew and his wife had left their two young sons, just nine and three years old, orphans. "I want to go and see if I can bring them to London and adopt them," he said.