On the third anniversary of 26/11, home minister P Chidambaram said Islamabad’s denial of evidence against Lashkare-Toiba chief and mastermind behind the Mumbai carnage Hafiz Saeed is unacceptable. In a candid assessment of India’s preparedness to combat terrorism, he also said India is not immune to an attack despite significant improvements in its security capabilities. Chidambaram speak to TOI’s Vishwa Mohan. Excerpts from the interview:
Q. Do you think India is fully prepared to counter a 26\11-type terror attack? The security apparatus has been strengthened, but can it prevent a big terror attack?
A. Whatever we do will never be “enough”. We are making up for past neglect. Huge capacity has to be built in strengthening security forces, in their training, in their equipment, in their deployment, in employing technology, in improving their mobility and striking power. Considerable capacity has been built in the last three years but still there is some distance to go. And even as we build additional capacity, the level of threat may also go up as adversaries are also building up their capacity. All that a government can do is to constantly ramp up capacity and remain at a high level of alert. We remain at a high level of alert, but sometimes it is possible that they slip through our defences as they did in Pune, Mumbai and Delhi, which I described as regrettable ‘blots’ on record.
Q. How do you describe the overall internal security scenario?
A. Internal security challenges are not confined to terrorism alone. There are other challenges. Since today we are only talking about terrorism, I think the record of three years will speak for itself. There have been three major terror attacks. Therewas a significant one in Varanasi, which fortunately saw only two deaths. Any fair assessment will conclude that our capacity to detect and disrupt terrorist activities has increased. It is for the people to judge whether India is a safer country today than what it was prior to 2008.
Q. There have been anti-India rallies in Pakistan this week where Jamaatud-Dawa ( JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed openly gave inflammatory speeches. Pakistan continues to allow him to do that. He is roaming free as the country’s interior minister Rehman Malik says there is no evidence against him.
A. Free speech does not extend to threatening another country. Do we allow free speech in this country that threatens Pakistan, that threatens that militants or young men will enter Pakistan and commit acts of violence? A separate dossier has been given to them on Hafiz Saeed with a CD containing his speeches. The United States has named JuD as a terrorist organization and asked Pakistan to name it as a terrorist organization. I think it is completely unacceptable for Pakistan to say they have no evidence against Hafiz Saeed. Hafiz Saeed must be investigated. He must be interrogated. But, if you treat him as a state guest for a while and then let him go and do whatever he does and say whatever he says, it only brings into the question the credibility of the Pakistan government.
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