After 26/11 Mumbai attacks ‘US said 'don't start a war': P Chidambaram
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New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday said that India did not retaliate against Pakistan in response to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks following pressure from the international community, including the United States.
The Pak-based Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out coordinated attack in Mumbai on 26 November 2008 killing 175 people in one of the horrific terrorist attacks the world has ever seen.
A terrorist offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the recent Pahalgam attack which ended up India retaliating, obliterating several of the outfit’s terrorist training camps in Pakistan.
Following his admission, BJP camp down heavily on Chidambaram, who was the Home Minister in the then-ruling Congress-led UPA government at the time.
Chidambaram opened up to a Hindi news channel that the government did not retaliate back then because ‘the whole world descended on Delhi to tell us 'don't start a war'.
Among those persuaded the government not to enter a war with Pakistan included senior diplomats alongside ex-United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice the Congress leader said.
‘Two or three days after I took over (Condoleeza Rice came) to meet me and the Prime Minister (then, Dr Manmohan Singh) ... to say 'please don't react'. I said this is a decision which the government will take. (But) ... an act of retribution did cross my mind,’ he was quoted as saying.
He added that ‘The Prime Minister discussed this (retaliatory military action) even when the attack was going on... and the conclusion, largely influenced by the Ministry of External Affairs and the IFS (Indian Foreign Service), was that we should not physically react to the situation.’
Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi came down heavily on Chidambaram's remarks saying that ‘After 17 years, Chidambaram, Former Home Minister admits what the nation knew - 26/11 was mishandled due to pressure from foreign powers. Too little, too late.’
The BJP's Shehzad Poonawala also hit out at the Congress , targeting senior congress leader Sonia Gandhi saying ‘Why was the UPA taking orders from her? Why did she prevail over the Home Minister?’