Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat on Saturday said the entire world knows about the role of Pakistani terrorists in the attacks in Mumbai in 2008 and that India did not need anyone’s acknowledgement about it, PTI reported. The Army chief was purportedly referring to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s comment last week that the 2008 Mumbai attacks were an “act of terrorism” and that resolving the case was in Islamabad’s interest.
“International community knows who did it...but even without it, we knew who did it,” Rawat said on the sidelines of an event in Delhi. “We know who did it. I don’t think we have to get anymore statement from anybody.” Rawat, however, said Pakistan’s acceptance was good.
In an interview with The Washington Post last week, Khan had said, “We also want something done about the bombers of Mumbai. I have asked our government to find out the status of the case. Resolving that case is in our interest because it was an act of terrorism.”
Commenting on retired Lieutenant General DS Hooda’s remark that the hype over the “surgical strikes” on terror launchpads along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir was unwarranted, Rawat said the remarks were an individual’s opinion. “These are an individual person’s perception. So let’s not comment on them,” Rawat said, adding that since Hooda was one of the persons involved in the operation, he respects his words.
Hooda was the Northern Army Commander when the operation was carried out on September 29, 2016. “If you start having political resonance in military operations, it is not good. There was too much political banter, on both sides, and when military operations get politicised, that is not good,” Hooda had said.
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