Who prevented action against Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks? Congress leader Chidambaram makes a bold claim

Congress leader and former Home Minister P. Chidambaram has claimed that he wanted to attack Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks, but was prevented from doing so by the Ministry of External Affairs. Chidambaram was transferred from the Finance Ministry to the Home Ministry immediately after the attacks because Shivraj Patil had resigned, taking moral responsibility for the attacks.

New Delhi: Congress leader and former Home Minister in the UPA government, P Chidambaram, has claimed that he was in favour of retaliatory action against Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks of November 26, 2008 , but the Ministry of External Affairs refused. India's policy has completely changed since the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre in 2014 and India has taken increasingly lethal action against Pakistan after every terrorist attack originating from Pakistan and has made it a part of the official strategy to kill terrorists and their patrons in their homes. The most recent example is Operation Sindoor .

Blame the then Foreign Ministry

In an interview with ABP News , Congress leader and former Home Minister P. Chidambaram offered a significant explanation for the then Manmohan Singh government's failure to take action against Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks, claiming that he wanted to, but the Ministry of External Affairs was unwilling. It's worth noting that Chidambaram was appointed Home Minister immediately after the Mumbai attacks, replacing Shivraj Patil. Chidambaram stated that he was in favor of retaliatory action against Pakistan, but officials in the Ministry of External Affairs were of the clear opinion that diplomacy and extensive negotiations should be used to address the situation.

'The idea of attacking Pakistan is wrong'

Chidambaram says that Foreign Ministry officials repeatedly stated that tensions between the two countries must be resolved through constructive dialogue, not military means. He said that ministry officials were successful in convincing the government that the idea of attacking Pakistan was wrong and that diplomatic means were the best option. Former President Pranab Mukherjee was the Foreign Minister during the period Chidambaram is referring to. After the Mumbai attacks, then-Home Minister Shivraj Patil was the target of media scrutiny. Patil subsequently resigned, taking moral responsibility for the country's worst terrorist attack, and Chidambaram was transferred from the Finance Ministry to the Home Ministry.

'I did not want to leave the Finance Ministry'

Now Chidambaram has also claimed that he was not at all prepared for his transfer from the Finance Ministry. Regarding his appointment as Home Minister under the circumstances, Chidambaram said, "I received a call from the Prime Minister, in which he said that a collective decision (by Manmohan and Sonia Gandhi) had been made to move me to the Home Ministry. I was reluctant to leave the Finance Ministry because I had presented five budgets and elections were due within a year."

166 people died in the Mumbai attacks

In the November 26, 2008, attacks, 10 Pakistani terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) attacked several locations in Mumbai, killing 166 people and injuring hundreds. On the fourth day of the attacks, i.e., the 29th, security forces were successful in completely eliminating the terrorists. Of these 10 terrorists, Ajmal Kasab was the only one captured alive, tried, and hanged by court order.