26/11 an opportunity for India, Pak to work together: Tipnis

New Delhi, Dec 13:

Former air chief Air Chief Marshal A Y Tipnis on Saturday said the 26/11 terror strikes have given India an opportunity to work together with Pakistan government to beat the "common enemies" in the army, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and terrorists there.

"India should understand the situation in Pakistan where the government is in hands of puppeteers in the Army and ISI. We should work with their government to beat our common enemies in the Pakistan Army, ISI and the terrorists there," Tipnis said while addressing a seminar on 'Politics, national security and the role of people's anger' here.

The former air chief said the country's response to terror attack in Mumbai should not be decided in "anger" as it will not bring out any solution to the present situation.

Former Border Security Force director general Prakash Singh demanded an inquiry commission to look in to the 26/11 strikes on the lines of 9/11 Commission set up in the US.

"We should set up a 26/11 commission, which should look into the reasons why the incident happened and take action against politicians and officials responsible for it," he said.

Singh said the government's future steps against terrorism should make Pakistan decide against carrying out a proxy war in India.

"Government should take strict action, including covert operations against Pakistan's proxy war, so that they realise that they also have to pay heavily for acting against India," he said.

Former Defence Minister and JD (U) leader George Fernandes and former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Jagmohan were present on the occasion.

Your comment(s) on this article

Work together against the common enemy? After a terrorist act has been carried out, Pakistan may concede, under international pressure, that those who actually carried out the terrorist attack are terrorists. But what about the preparatory stages? Pakistan would turn a blind eye to them because they would all be done in the name of protecting Islam and the Pakistani state is dedicated to protecting Islam. Therefore if we work with Pakistan against a so-called common enemy, they will only divert and dilute our vigil against terrorists. The only solution is to destroy Pakistan and Bangladesh, declare the two-nation theory a flop and integrate Indian Muslims into the mainstream. -K.Venugopal - Mumbai