Attacks on Mumbai a policy failure: Advani

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union minister L K Advani on Thursday said repeated terror attacks on Mumbai should be viewed as a failure of policy and not intelligence.

At the same time, he made it clear that he did not accuse the government of the intelligence failure but said it was a proxy war. Seventeen people were killed and 131 injured yesterday in three blasts that took place within twelve minutes during the evening rush hour.

Advani urged the government to adopt a “zero-tolerance” policy on terror. “We will not tolerate anything which seems to promote or condone or compromise or disregard any terrorist activity. This should be a basic premise of our relationship with Pakistan that it will have to dismantle the infrastructure that it has created for terror,” he told reporters.

Advani visited the three blast sites and spent time in two hospitals where some of the injured are being treated. Mumbai had become a “favourite” target for terrorists, he said later.

Though Home Minister P Chidambaram told this morning that it would be irresponsible at the moment to speculate on the perpetrators of the triple blasts, Advani said there were reports that the Indian Mujahideen might have been responsible for the attacks.

“Even if Indian Mujahideen caused these blasts, they get their support from Pakistan,” he said.

“As far as India is concerned, the government must shed its ambivalence towards terrorism,” the senior BJP leader added.