Actress Shabana Azmi [Images] called up rediff.com on Wednesday to send out a message to Mumbaikars after doing the rounds of Mumbai hospitals. She was all praise for the doctors attending to the blast victims and police working tirelessly.

Acts of terror are acts of cowardice. Terror of the kind unleashed by eight bomb blasts in Mumbai's Western Railway line killing over 175 innocent people needs to be condemned unequivocally.

Mumbai will respond with strong condemnation and a resolve to fight terror and show empathy and compassion for the victims.

We have done the rounds of hospitals in Mumbai today and want to salute the doctors in the municipal hospitals who have been working round the clock with complete selflessness.

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Now is not the time to play the blame game. It's my appeal to the citizens of Mumbai to stand shoulder to shoulder with the administration and pull in all resources to overcome this crisis.

The real test is yet to follow.

We have to resolve not to give in to rumour mongering and to defeat the designs of those who have done this heinous deed. Their intention obvious -- to hurt India's economic capital and to spread terror and divide people.

Only by staying together can we defeat the designs of the terrorists.

The next few days will be crucial -- because attempts will be made to whip up emotional frenzy by vested interests and we must not succumb to any evil influence.

As told to Indrani Roy Mitra