'There was no response from....': S Jaishankar criticises Congress over Mumbai 26/11 attacks

Coming down heavily upon the opposition Congress party, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday, i.e. , October 27, said that there was no response from the Indian side against Mumbai 26/11 attacks in 2008, which claimed 166 lives. 

Addressing a Press Conference in Mumbai, the union minister said, "We should not have a repeat of what happened in Mumbai. That there was a terror attack and there was no response. Mumbai is a symbol of counter-terrorism for India and the world", as quoted by PTI. 

"When India was a member of the UN Security Council, it was chairing the counter-terrorism committee. We held the counter-terrorism panel meeting in the same hotel that was hit by the terror attack,” he further recalled. 

He further emphasised that when the current central government talks about "zero-tolerance against terrorism", it is clear that if someone does something, there will be consequences. 

“People know that India is standing strong against terrorism. We are today leaders in fighting terrorism.When we talk of zero tolerance against terror, it is clear that when somebody does something, there will be a response,” he said.  

The BJP government has repeatedly attacked the Congress for "not taking appropriate action against the attacks", while the latter was in power at the centre during that time. 

“After the Mumbai attacks, the national security advisor (NSA) of the previous UPA government wrote that ‘we sat, we debated. We considered all the options. Then we decided to do nothing and the justification was that we felt that the cost of attacking Pakistan was more than not doing so", S Jaishankar stated in April this year. 

Mumbai 26/11 attacks 

Seen as the worst terror attack on Indian soil, the 26/11 incident was perpetrated by Pakistan-sponsored terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Toiba, which killed 166 and injured 300 people. According to a report by Hindustan Times, ten terrorists carried out coordinated attacks in Mumbai, especially targeting Taj Palace Hotel, Oberoi Trident, Nariman House among others.