If Mumbai like terror attacks recur, India will respond heavily: EAM Jaishankar

Mumbai, Oct 27: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said that there was no response from the Indian side after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and asserted that it won’t be the case if such an incident were to recur.

“We should not have a repeat of what happened in Mumbai. That there was a terror attack and there was no response,” Jaishankar told reporters in Mumbai.

“Mumbai is a symbol of counter-terrorism for India and the world,” the minister said.

When India was a member of the UN Security Council, it was chairing the counter-terrorism committee, Jaishankar said. “We held the counter-terrorism panel meeting in the same hotel that was hit by the terror attack,” he added.

“People know that India is standing strong against terrorism. We are today leaders in fighting terrorism,” Jaishankar said.

“When we talk of zero tolerance against terror, it is clear that when somebody does something, there will be a response,” he said.

“We also have to expose. It is not acceptable that you are doing business during daytime and indulging in terror during the night and I have to pretend that everything is okay.

“This India will not accept it. This is what has changed,” the minister said.

“We will expose terrorism and we will act where we have to act,” he added.

Jaishankar also said India and China would soon resume patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, restoring the arrangement as it was in April 2020, before the border standoff began.

“We expect to return to pre-October 31, 2020, patrolling arrangements in areas like Demchok and Depsang. This will take some time,” Jaishankar said.