India today welcomed the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a hideout in Pakistan. Terming it a “significant step forward,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Pakistan and other countries must work to end terrorist activities.
The killing of bin Laden has given India one more opportunity to point out that Pakistan continues to shelter terrorist leaders and networks.
Within hours of confirmation of bin Laden’s death, Home Minister P Chidambaram voiced India’s “grave concern” that bin Laden was found somewhere “deep inside Pakistan.”
The US embassy in New Delhi informed the Indian government about the development in the morning. The prime minister is learnt to have talked to some senior colleagues. After a few hours, he issued a statement welcoming the development “as a significant step forward” and hoped “it will deal a decisive blow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups”.
Adding: “The international community, in particular Pakistan, must work comprehensively to end the activities of groups who threaten civilised behaviour and kill innocent men, women and children.”
Also Read
Chidambaram also pointed a finger at Pakistan. “We take note with grave concern that part of the statement in which President Barack Obama said the fire-fight in which Osama bin Laden was killed took place in Abbotabad, deep inside Pakistan,” he said.
“This underlines our concern that terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in Pakistan. We believe that the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, including the controllers and handlers of terrorists who carried out the attack, continue to be sheltered in Pakistan.”
Chidambaram appealed to Pakistan “to arrest people whose names have been handed over to its interior minister and provide voice samples of some people who are suspected to be among the controllers and handlers of the terrorists.”
Foreign Minister S M Krishna described Laden's killing as a “victorious milestone in the global war against terrorism”.
Security forces involved in counter-insurgency in Jammu & Kashmir say the death of Osama bin Laden is not likely to have any impact as the epicentre of action between Al Qaeda and the US-Pak forces, if any, will be in Pakistan and Afghanistan.