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Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal on Friday said that "different decisions are made at different times", and one situation cannot be directly compared to another, while commenting on India's response following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Speaking to ANI, Bansal added that the Congress party has consistently opposed any third-party interference in India-Pakistan matters. "From 1947 till today, the Congress party has always been clear that we will not tolerate any interference from any third party in India's talks with Pakistan... For this reason, the question of why Pakistan was not attacked after the 26/11/2008 attack should not even arise... You may ask why Pakistan was not targeted after this," he said. On the approach taken following the attacks, Bansal explained, "Different decisions are made at different times, and one situation cannot be directly compared to another. Following this attack, India strengthened its preparedness and intelligence efforts, reinforcing its stance. While we have always aimed to maintain good relations with everyone, we explicitly stated at that time that Pakistan was spreading terrorism in India, and we do not accept it in any form. Since then, whenever necessary, we have responded appropriately to Pakistan..." Chidambaram, who was the Union Home Minister in the then-ruling Congress-led UPA government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in an interview to a TV channel, said "the whole world was descending upon Delhi to tell us don't start a war". "For example, Condoleezza Rice, who was a then Secretary of State, flew in two day or three days after I took over to meet me and the Prime Minister and to say, please don't react. I said this is a decision which the government will take," Chidrambaram told the TV channel interview. Admitting his lack of familiarity with India's security infrastructure at that time, Chidambaram said, "I went in blank," adding that he was unaware of the intelligence assets available in Pakistan and neighbouring regions. Later, Senior Congress leader and former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday expressed frustration over being misquoted by the media regarding his comments on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In the podcast with a TV network, Chidambaram discussed the decision-making process of the Manmohan Singh-led government's stance on retaliating against Pakistan after the attacks. However, he claimed that his words were twisted, and media outlets attributed a statement to him that he never made - "US stopped us from retaliating after the 26/11 attack." "In no part of the interview to Megha Prasad's podcast did I say that 'US stopped us from retaliating after the 26/11 attack. Yet, channel after channel and the media and the Twitterati are merrily attributing words to me. These are the perils of talking to the media!" wrote Chidambaram. (ANI)
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