Summary Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said that India is always prepared to “neutralize” its enemies.
New Delhi (Web Desk) – Indian Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Monday said that his government would explore every possible means, including carrying out a covert or a special operation, to neutralise Dawood Ibrahim or Hafiz Saeed, the Indian media reported.
Speaking to a private news channel, Rathore said that India is always prepared to “neutralize” its enemies.
"Wherever India s enemies are based, they must never be under any delusion that India is not thinking about them," he said.
Responding to a question on what the Indian government is doing about Dawood Ibrahim and Saeed, who are both wanted in India, he said: "It is possible that an operation is launched but it will not be talked about before it is launched."
“We might talk about it after it’s over. It depends on whether the government says it should be a covert operation or a special operation,” he added.
India has accused Lahore-based Hafiz Saeed, chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), of masterminding the 2008 attack on its financial capital Mumbai where gunmen killed 166 people and they believe that Dawood Ibrahim, wanted for the 1993 Mumbai bombings, is sheltering in Karachi.
Pakistan denies the Indian charges that it shelters Dawood Ibrahim.
To a question, Rathore said that every available option will be used. India will give the dossier, and other means too will be used.
He, however, maintained that the government still believed that dialogue was the best way to find a way forward with Pakistan, but insisted that a dialogue, in current circumstances, “can only happen on ending terror.”
Rathore’s remarks came against the backdrop of a sharp downturn in bilateral ties after the cancellation of planned talks between the national security advisers last month.
