No restriction on entry of family members of martyrs:officials

Parliament officials today refuted allegations of family members of the martyrs of 2001 Parliament attack that restrictions were imposed on their entry into the complex to pay homage to the slain personnel.
"As in previous year, this year too, the Parliament Secretariat had sent invitation letters to the family members of the martyrs inviting them to pay homage to the martyrs. The invitation letters were duly acknowledged by each of the family members; copies of the acknowledgement are available with the Parliament Secretariat.
"Each of the family members was also contacted over telephone and confirmation of their participation was obtained. Arrangement for reception and proper felicitation of guests were also put in place at the Reception Office, Parliament House," said M K Sharma, Joint Director of Press and Public Relations Wing, Lok Sabha Secretariat in a statement.

Yesterday, the families had said that after boycotting the ceremony for all these years to press for convict Afzal Guru's hanging, they were looking forward to join the memorial service this year but decided against it as only one of the relatives of the martyrs was being allowed inside by Parliament officials while they wanted that the entire family be permitted to pay homage.
The relatives had also demanded that they be allotted land outside the high-security complex to build a memorial in memory of the martyrs who laid down their live while fighting the terrorists on December 13, 2001.