India not contemplating military action against Pak: Antony

Discarding any military action that India is contemplating against Pakistan, Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday said that there is no such thing but Pakistan will have to take sincere steps against terrorists to normalising the relations between the two countries.

Although he ruled out the call off over five-year long ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) but said bilateral relations would not be normal until Pakistan took strong measures against terrorists operating from its soil against India.

“We are not planning any military action... But in these adverse environment things will not be normal unless Pakistan takes actions against those terrorists who are operating from their soil against India and also against all those who are behind the Mumbai terrorist attack," Antony said.

There should be similarity in Islamabad’s saying and doing. Unless Pakistan shows their sincerity through act what they are saying, things would not improve across the border. Antony made these remarks while talking to reporters on the occasion of ‘Vijay Diwas’ today, marking the 37th anniversary of India’s win over Pakistan in the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971.

When asked about the troop deployment along the Indo-Pak border, the defence minister said the situation was normal there, however added, our armed forces are always ready.

On what action New Delhi would opt for if Islamabad does not concede to India’s demand of rooting out terrorist camps there and handover of 40 militants, accused in India in various grave crimes and terrorist acts, demanded by India, Antony refused to divulge saying, “I can not say at this juncture what course of action we will take then.”

The chiefs of Navy, Army and Air Force—Admiral Sureesh Mehta, General Deepak Kapoor and Air Chief Marshal F H Major—were also present on the Vijay Diwas function.

Although all around pressure is mounting on Pakistan with each passing day, how sincere it is to eliminate terrorism flourishing on the Pakistan soil from decades is difficult to answer.

First, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari refused to admit that any person belonging to Pakistan was involved in Mumbai carnage, later he said the massacre was carried out by non-state actors for which Islamabad was not responsible; and now after US’ denying to admit non-state actors remark he admitted that even non-state actors were his country’s responsibility.

After repeated commitments that Pakistan was sincere to root out terrorism and vowing again not to allow its territory to carry out terrorist strikes on any country-friend or foe-Pakistan has so far been failed to take concrete actions against terrorists, alleges to have safe heaven still there.

And now on Monday (Dec 15), Islamabad turned down British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s request for allowing UK authorities to question the Pakistani suspects arrested in connection with the Mumbai terror strikes, saying it will not handover any of its nationals to a foreign country but will act on them according to the country’s own law.

Brown had categorically stated to Pakistan to break the chain of terror that links Islamist militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan to the streets of UK and other countries around the world. Brown asked Pakistan to curb Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) that was behind the Mumbai attacks.

A day later John Kerry, US Democrat Senator said LeT was being nurtured by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI, which had founded the terror organisation.