Name: Is PM Modi wrong to allege that Manmohan Singh did not punish Pakistan for 26/11 attacks?
Uploaded: 2017-12-12T18:56:57+0000
Channel: Sandeep Unnithan
Description: The then government felt the benefits of not attacking Pakistan outweighed those of attacking it.

Politics

Manmohan Singh

&lt;p id='p_1' class='m_5587350719740579117m_-7678444248283922743gmail-MsoNormal'&gt;Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked why ex-PM Manmohan Singh did not punish Pakistan for the 26/11 attacks in which 166 persons were killed by Pakistani terrorists. The Manmohan Singh government, in fact, ignored an option for surgical strikes. It&amp;rsquo;s important to understand why.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_2' class='m_5587350719740579117m_-7678444248283922743gmail-MsoNormal'&gt;Days after the attacks of November 26, 2008, India&amp;rsquo;s security establishment held multiple meetings in South Block examining options for retaliation. The capture and interrogation of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Ajmal Kasab by the Mumbai police left no doubts in the minds of the Indian leadership that the attack had been launched by LeT.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_3' class='m_5587350719740579117m_-7678444248283922743gmail-MsoNormal'&gt;The only clear retaliatory option came from Air Chief Marshal (retd) Fali Major, who said that his planes would take off in a few hours to strike at the LeT camps but he needed coordinates of the camps to avoid civilian collateral. He didn&amp;rsquo;t get the coordinates because the intelligence agencies did not know the location of the camps.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_4' class='m_5587350719740579117m_-7678444248283922743gmail-MsoNormal'&gt;Five more options for military retaliation were presented by national security adviser MK Narayanan to the government, but none of these were acted upon.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p id='p_5' class='m_5587350719740579117m_-7678444248283922743gmail-MsoNormal'&gt;The answer to Modi&amp;rsquo;s question can best be found in former foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon&amp;rsquo;s book, 'Choices: Inside the Making of India&amp;rsquo;s Foreign Policy'. Menon tells us that Singh&amp;rsquo;s government thought the benefits of not attacking Pakistan outweighed those of attacking it. A limited attack on LeT wouldn&amp;rsquo;t have weakened the terror outfit but the Pakistan government.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

Is PM Modi wrong to allege that Manmohan Singh did not punish Pakistan for 26/11 attacks?

The then government felt the benefits of not attacking Pakistan outweighed those of attacking it.