Chidambaram: India will respond swiftly to another 26/11-type attack

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said that India would respond swiftly and decisively if another Mumbai-type with origins in Pakistan occurred in the country.

"If it is reasonably established that any 26/11 (type) attack in future has its origin in Pakistan, India's response will be swift and decisive," he said in reply to a question at the inaugural session of the India Today Conclave 2010.

The Home Minister was answering questions put by India Today Group Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie after he had delivered his keynote address on "South Asia: Securing the Future", in which he talked about the challengs India faced on the security front.

Asked by Mr Purie if India's response to another 26/11 type attack would be a military action, he said, ""You can ask the question once the prompt and decisive action takes place."

On the Pakistan High Commissioners clarification that state actors had nothing to do with the acts of terrorism in India, Mr Chidambaram said India wanted Paksitan to verify the voices in the transcripts of the handlers of the Novembe 26, 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai but Islamabad did not cooperate.

"Assuming that state actors have nothing to do with terror in India, why has Pakistan allowed non-state factors to spread terror in India?" he wondered.

The Home Minister said terrorism and the Maoist insurgency were the two main challenges facing India on the security front. According to him, the Maoist extremism was in many ways the greater of the two challenges because it was spread out over some 200 districts of the country.

However, he was confident that the Government would be able to rid the country of the Maoist menace before its present term ended in 2014. He said once the authorities had regained control in the Naxalite-dominated areas, development programmes could be implemented expeditiously.

In reply to a question, Mr Chidambaram described Pakistan as a "difficult neighbur" and said Kashmir was the key problem between the two countries.

"It is no secret that the ISI gets its support from Pakistan-based terror groups that run modules in India. The two nations are nuclear powers and war is not an option. So we must talk. At other times, we must remain vigilant," he said.

NNN