Clear evidence of Pak support to 26/11 terrorists: Chidambaram

"When I say, state actors, at the moment, I am not pointing my finger at any particular agency. But clearly there was state support or state actors' support for the 26/11 massacre," he said at a press conference here.

Jundal, a key handler of 26/11 attackers, was arrested on June 21 on his arrival from Saudi Arabia.

Chidambaram said there was clear evidence that Pakistan's official machinery was involved in carrying out the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 which claimed 166 lives.

"He (Jundal) has confirmed that he was in the control room. This has confirmed our suspicion that there was some organised effort. There were some kind of state actors. The argument that non-state actors were behind the massacre is no longer valid," he said.

 

The Home Minister went on to add, "we have always been saying that some state support was behind the act. This (Jundal's interrogation) has broadly confirmed what we have been saying".

Pakistan, he said, has come out poorly as it continues to deny that the handlers of 26/11 terrorists were sitting in that country.

Chidambaram said the world appreciates the way India has been tracking down the 26/11 accused.

"But in contrast, Pakistan comes out poorly as a country in denial. As a country which denies that there were controllers and handlers, sitting in somewhere in Pakistan, giving instructions in telephone to Kasab and nine others.

"I think the way they are going about it, puts us in good light and puts Pakistan in bad light," he said. (More)