The Taiwanese tourists had planned to stay in India for about 10 days but now they are understood to have revised their plans and are expected to leave India as soon as the injured are discharged from hospital.
The two Taiwanese who were injured in the firing at Jama Masjid were identified as 25-year-old Ko Chang and 27-year-old Ku Ze Wei.
They are research scholars who were making a documentary on the Walled City areas of Delhi.
At the time of the attack, Ko Chang and Ku Ze Wei were carrying a camera, a tripod and a laptop, which apparently had details of their research work on the Walled City.
They were rushed to the nearby government-run Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Narayan Hospital.
According to the Delhi police, the duo were visiting India as part of a cultural exchange programme. They stayed at the Rockstar Hotel in the Safdarjung Enclave area of Delhi. “[They] booked the hotel for two weeks,” said a police official.
“Their families in Taiwan have been informed about the attack and their family members are expected to reach Delhi this week,” the official said.
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Shimla girl petitions for ground
ASIT JOLLY
CHANDIGARH
At a time when India prepares to host its biggest ever sports event in Delhi, a 10-year-old schoolgirl in Shimla has petitioned the Himachal Pradesh high court for the simple joy of having access to a playground in the country’s erstwhile summer capital.
Vipasha, who is a student of Class 5 in a local school, wrote a letter complaining about the serious lack of outdoor playing facilities in the city that is now home to an estimated 200,000 residents excluding thousands of tourists that throng the place every summer.
Evidently helped by a parent, the Himachal high court’s youngest ever petitioner said, “Shimla is a concrete jungle with no parks, open spaces or grounds for children, forcing them to remain glued to television, which we know is not good for our health.”
Insisting the “absence of parks and playgrounds” are forcing young schoolchildren like her stay indoors, young Vipasha wants the government to build more playgrounds instead of permitting the unbridled spread of concrete buildings in the once unspoiled Queen of the Hills. Vipasha’s “jungle of concrete” has innumerable multi-storied buildings, including some posh facilities.