There was no response from Indian side after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, but this would not be the case if such an incident happened again, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated on Sunday.
“We should not have a repeat of what happened in Mumbai. That there was a terror attack and there was no response,” the minister was quoted as saying by PTI. He added that Mumbai is a symbol of counter-terrorism for India and the world.
Ten terrorists belonging to Pakistan-sponsored Lashkar-e-Taiba sneaked into Mumbai city and carried out multiple attacks killing 175 people and injuring over 300 others on November 26, 2008. Nine of the attackers were also killed by security forces while one gunman, Ajmal Kasab, was caught alive. He was executed in 2012.
Jaishankar recalled that India hosted the counter-terrorism panel meeting in the same hotel that was the target of the terror attack, while the country was chairing the UN Security Council's counter-terrorism committee.
“People know that India is standing strong against terrorism. We are today leaders in fighting terrorism,” he said. “When India talks of zero tolerance against terror, it is clear that when somebody does something, there will be a response”.
The EAM asserted that India will expose terrorism and the government will act where it has to act.
“We also have to expose. It is not acceptable that you are doing business during daytime and indulging in terror during the night and I have to pretend that everything is okay. This India will not accept it,” he said, in an apparent jibe at Pakistan.
In Mumbai, the LeT operatives carried out shooting and bomb attacks in a dozen places, eight of them in South Mumbai.