New Delhi - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that
Pakistan was the 'epicentre of terrorism' and the world needed to
deal with it sternly, during a parliamentary debate Thursday on the
Mumbai terrorist attacks which took place last month.
'We have to galvanize the international community into dealing
sternly and effectively with the epicentre of terrorism which is
located in Pakistan,' Singh said.
While India expects Pakistan to take serious follow-up action
against elements it believes were behind the Mumbai terrorist
attacks, it does not believe that war is a solution,
India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in his speech.
Making the first official statement after the Pakistani prime
minister said two men named by India were detained and being
questioned, Mukherjee said: 'Please follow it up seriously. Exactly
the same scene was played after the attack on Parliament in 2001.'
Pakistani authorities arrested members of the militant
organization Jaish-e-Mohammad including chief Masood Azhar, and froze
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) bank accounts after that incident.
But the arrested men were soon operating freely again and the LET,
according to Indian intelligence, started operating under different
names, including the charitable front the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, which the
United Nations Security Council added to its sanctions list on
Wednesday.
Mukherjee said India expected Pakistan to follow its latest
actions to its logical conclusion: 'Complete dismantling of the
infrastructural facilities available from that side to facilitate the
terrorist infiltration and terrorist attacks to India.'
India had given Pakistan a list of 40 suspects against whom it
expected action, Mukherjee added.
He said 'controllers' in Pakistan were guiding the terrorists when
operations were going on in Mumbai and Islamabad could not avoid
responsibility by describing these elements as non-state actors.
'Are the non-state actors coming from heaven? Or they are coming
from a different planet? Non-state actors are operating from a
particular country. What we are most respectfully suggesting to the
government of Pakistan - please act,' he said.
Earlier, India's federal Home Minister P Chidambaram said evidence
gathered by Indian security agencies established conclusively that
militants based in Pakistan were involved in the Mumbai attack and
hard decisions would be taken to protect the country and
its people.
'The finger of suspicion unmistakably points to the territory of
our neighbour, Pakistan,' Chidambaram said while making the opening
statement on the November 26 terrorist attack that killed 179 people
including 26 foreigners.
The home minister said the interrogation of a captured terrorist
had yielded valuable material evidence while the origins of the 10
terrorists who entered India had been established conclusively. He
said details of investigations could not be given at this time.
'We will strain every nerve to defend our borders ... Given the
nature of the threats, we cannot go back to business as usual. Hard
decisions will be taken to protect the country and its people,'
Chidambaram said.
Mukherjee said people were deeply angered and outraged and
expected the government to take 'resolute action' to convey the
message that India's territorial sovereignty could not be played
with. 'Nobody should dare to attack us,' he said.
Asked by a lawmaker why India did not attack Pakistan given the
evidence, Mukherjee said: 'I am making it clear that is not the
solution.'
He also said attempts were being made to provoke India through a
series of terrorist attacks. 'We are not provoked. We have no
intention of being provoked,' he said.
Earlier, Chidambaram announced several measures to strengthen
security including setting up of 20 counter-insurgency and
anti-terrorism schools for training commandos from police forces,
setting up of a national investigative agency and beefing up of
coastal security.
He urged lawmakers to pass bills strengthening anti-terror laws in
the current session of parliament. This includes an amendment to a
law on money laundering.
'South Asia is the eye of the storm of terrorism,' Chidambaram
said, while leader of the opposition LK Advani said Pakistan was the
'epicentre' of that storm.
His Bharatiya Janata Party and the main opposition alliance would
support the government in its 'hard decisions,' Advani said.
Describing the Mumbai attacks as a 'terror war,' Advani said India
should not be fooled by the cosmetic steps Pakistan seemed to be
taking against terrorist elements based in that country.
All the leaders stressed that all Indian political parties and
people, irrespective of their religion or regional affiliations,
needed to present an united front in the battle against terrorism.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story