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| India-Pakistan |
| Minister admits security lapses over Mumbai attacks |
| 2008-12-06 |
| (AKI) - India's new Interior Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram on Friday admitted 'security and intelligence failure' over last weeks deadly terror assault on Mumbai that killed 172 people and injured nearly 300. India has blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attacks but Islamabad denies any role. "Nope. Nope. Wudn't us." "I agree that security and intelligence failed," the Press Trust of India news agency cited Chidambaram as telling journalists, following a visit to the Mumbai railway station, one of the locations hit by terrorists last week. "But it wudn't our fault!" The militant assault mainly targeted locations popular with tourists, including two luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal (photo) and the Oberoi. A total 26 foreigners died in the attacks. When asked about the possible involvement of Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, Chidambaram said: "There is ample evidence to link terror attacks to organisations or entities who have in the past been responsible for terror." He said there was a proposal to set up an intelligence agency at the national level similar to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. There were some lapses in security, coastal or otherwise which need to be rectified, Chidambaram added. US media said this week that Washington had warned India in October that Mumbai could be targeted by militants arriving by sea. The Indian government has faced growing domestic criticism over its handling of the attacks. Thousands of people took to the streets of Mumbai on Wednesday to demand that India's leaders do more to protect them from extremists. Chidambaram took over as Interior Minister on Monday after his predecessor Shivraj Patil was forced to step down amid criticism from media and the opposition that he was taking a "soft approach on terror". British MPs on Friday passed a motion pledging the UK would do its utmost to help India fight terrorism. The motion called the Mumbai carnage an attack on democratic values throughout the world. "This House... Believes that these attacks are targeted at the basic fabric of India represented by its secularism, democracy, tolerance, unity and faith and are an attack on democratic values... Throughout the whole world," the motion said. |
| Posted by:Fred |