India won't have unlimited patience if 26/11 is repeated: Gates The US on Wednesday made it clear that India's patience would be "limited" if it faces a Mumbai-type attack again as it warned that Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was working in league with al-Qaeda to destabilise the region and provoke an Indo-Pak military confrontation. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who discussed the serious threat posed by terrorism to the region with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A.K. Antony, emphasised the need for "high level of cooperation" from all countries to defeat the "syndicate" of terror, including the LeT, the Taliban and the Tehreek-e-Taliban under the command of al-Qaeda. He said the syndicate had "home and safe haven" in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas and that there was need to recognise the magnitude of threat to the entire region. "While al-Qaeda is operating in Afghanistan along with the Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban is focusing on Pakistan. The Lashkar-e-Toiba is focusing on Pakistan as also India," Gates told reporters here winding up his two-day visit. "The success of any one of them is success for all. Victory for one is victory for all. These groups operate under the umbrella of al-Qeada from North West Frontier Province (of Pakistan) and Waziristan," he said. "Under the umbrella, they intend to destabilise not only Pakistan, but the entire region by provoking confrontation between India and Pakistan through terror attacks. This is a very complicated issue and very dangerous for the entire region as a whole," he added. To a question, Gates said that it would "not be unreasonable to assume that India's patience will be limited" if there is a repeat of 26/11. "After the Mumbai attacks, India had responded with great restraint and statesmanship. But if attacked again, the response is a question. I leave this question to the Indian government," Gates said. Pressing the need for high level of cooperation to eliminate such forces, he said it would be difficult to wipe them out by targeting only one of the groups. Describing the terror situation in the region as "complicated" and "very dangerous", the US Defence Secretary said it would be "very dangerous" to single out any one group out of the syndicate to be targeted as all of them needed to combated together. In this regard, he said, it was important for all the countries to "remain engaged and eliminate the terror groups". Asked whether Indian leadership had asked him to press Pakistan to do more on combating terror groups on its soil, Gates said the discussions focussed on syndication of different terror groups and "how they put all of the region, India and Pakistan, at risk." He said one of subjects of his next visit to Pakistan would be "allay its concerns" so that "they can focus on the real existential threat to Pakistan from groups operating from its territory." Queried whether he sought India's military role in Afghanistan, Gates suggested that the US was not interested in it given the "real suspicions" between India and Pakistan about the role each is playing there. source : India Today
May Robert Gates' statement enlighten minds from across the border. War, they cannot win with us, so why try? Catastrophe would be all they would reap in case of another major terrorist attack on Indian soil.
Yes, India or any country don't have that much patience but main drawback of India is it has dirty politics and diplomacy.
i think indian authorities should be more vigilant when such remarks come up. when people and authorities from other nations are so vigilant and concerned of indian security cant indian authorities atleast act on such advices?? the national security guard authorities should boost their technology and current armor and weaponry,
it is time that indian authorities realize what they are doing... they were sleeping during 26/11.. atleast now they should wake up and tighten the security if at all they have any shame left. look at the securities of countries like US and scotland which are famous world wide.. cant we have such securities?? we can, but the government officials are busy eating bribes and sleeping. it was shameful to see in the video that a constable tried to stop terrorists car with a mere wooden baton and had no weapon.
this is a good supportive statement made by the US officials and india should prove to stand by that statement. when other nations are supporting india on such issues and offering their sympathies, it should wake up and see that it combats the such situation with full force, if any such incidence should ever occur.
India should take such statements positively and try to prove that it would not entertain any such attacks further. This should be more into actions rather than statements into public and press conferences. The security levels should be increased at the same time the quality of a security personnel should also be improved. This is because during the 26/11 attack, it was seen that a constable had to encounter terrorists with a mere wooden stick!! This is something a picture of shame to our government that we are still fighting with wooden sticks and claiming ourselves a developing country.
