New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday apologised to the country for the government's inability to prevent the Mumbai attacks and vowed to gear up the security apparatus to prevent recurrence of such incidents besides building pressure on Pakistan to end the scourge.
Making an intervention during the debate on the Mumbai attacks in Lok Sabha, Singh noted the action by Pakistan against Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed but asserted that Islamabad needed to do "much more" to take things to logical conclusion and convince the world about its actions.
Outlining steps to gear up the country's security system to meet the "unprecedented threat", he said the government has decided to set up a National Investigation Agency, decentralise NSG, form more commando units, strengthen coastal security by making the Coast Guard the sole force responsible for it and step up air surveillance.
"I apologise to the people of the country that this dastardly act could not be prevented," he said referring to the Mumbai strikes and acknowledged that acts of terrorism have witnessed an increase resulting in death of hundreds of citizens.
Observing that the "epicentre of terrorism" is located in Pakistan, he underlined that the terror infrastructure in the neighbouring country must be dismantled and India cannot be "satisfied with mere assurances."
Singh said India has so far exercised "utmost restraint" but it should "not be misconstrued as a sign of our weakness".
Describing the attacks on Mumbai as "very calculated and sinister", the Prime Minister said it was aimed at spreading widespread terror by the forces who wanted to hurt India's secular polity.
He said Pakistan must take "effective and sustainable steps" to ensure that those responsible for the Mumbai attacks are brought to justice and that such incidents do not recur.
Singh expressed happiness over the UN Security Council's decision to proscribe Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front organisation of Lashkar-e-Taiba, and its leaders including Hafiz Saeed and said India was looking for such "purposeful actions".
Pakistan must take "strongest possible action" against perpetrators of Mumbai attacks and the world community should be "convinced that the actions have been effective".
He said dismantling of the terror infrastructure in Pakistan is "good for the entire world community, including the well-being of Pakistan itself."
Singh said several heads of state who had talked to him had praised India for exercising restraint while agreeing that strong steps needed to be taken against those responsible for the Mumbai attacks.
"I conveyed to them we could not be satisfied with mere assurances. The political will of the international community must be translated into concrete and sustained action on the ground," he said.
Underlining that use of terrorism as an "instrument of state policy is no longer acceptable", Singh said "there should be no double standards in the global fight against terrorism. There are no good or bad terrorists. There is no cause that justifies the killing of innocent people."
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