India has asked Pakistan to take "strong, convincing" action against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, saying unless they were brought to book, it would be impatient.
It also asked the US to advise Pakistan to dismantle the terror infrastructure and to stop use of its soil by terrorist groups to carry out attacks inside India, adding the government and the people did not want any confrontation with the neighbouring countries, but it would be difficult to move forward unless Pakistan acted.
"Unless the Government of Pakistan takes action against the involved in the heinous acts of 26/11... Strong, convincing action to dismantle the terrorist outfits across the border, Indian people will be always impatient," Antony told journalists at the National Cadet Corps Republic Day Parade Camp in New Delhi.
He was responding to queries regarding US Defence Secretary Robert Gates' remarks that it would "not be unreasonable to assume that India's patience will be limited were there to be further attacks" such as the 26/11, and if such patience would wear out in case of another terror attack.
"I also told him (Gates) that our people are becoming impatient. So you please advise Pakistan. They must act against those involved in terrorist activities such as 26/11, and also almost all these terrorist outfits operating across the border... they are still very active," he said.
Antony said after 26/11, there were many attempts to "create turbulence, tension" inside India from various quarters and that the government was aware that more attempts would be made in the future too.
"Luckily, we were able to fail all their attempts. These things are nothing new. We know very well that there will be numerous attempts by our enemies to repeat what happened in the past. But eternal vigilance is necessary. We are taking actions that are humanly possible. So far we are lucky to prevent and defeat their attempts," he said.
"Unless Pakistan takes action on these two fronts (punishing 26/11 perpetrators and dismantling terror infrastructure), forward movement is difficult," Antony said.
The Indian government and people were not interested in confrontation with any neighbouring country, he said.
"We know very well, we can change friends, but we cannot change our neighbours. So we have to live in peace with our neighbours. So our aim and wish is to be friendly with our neighbouring countries," he added.
There were half-a-dozen "serious-type" attempts to infiltrate into India in January alone, he said, adding the assessment was that both the "terrorists and their masters" had "consciously decided" to increase the infiltration bids.
"They (terrorists and their masters) knew very well the situation in Kashmir is improving, normalcy is returning and the number of violent incidents is going down. So we expect more infiltration," he added.
Image: Defence Minister A K Antony
