December 06, 2008	Saturday	Zilhaj 7, 1429

NEW DELHI, Dec 5: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday there was unprecedented anger in the country at last week’s terror outrage in Mumbai and New Delhi will decide its counter-measures after Islamabad responds to its demarche for action against alleged Pakistani suspects.

“I have impressed upon all the world leaders who called me that people of India feel a sense of hurt and anger as never seen before,” Dr Singh told a joint press conference addressed along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev here.

“It is the obligation of all concerned to ensure that perpetrators of this horrible crime are brought to book. That is our message to everybody and anybody who have come here,” Dr Singh said.

“I conveyed to President Medvedev the sense of anger and outrage in India over the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. We deeply appreciate Russia’s expression of solidarity with India at this moment. We both agreed that these attacks represent a threat to all open and pluralistic societies, and require a major intensification of efforts against supporters and perpetrators of terrorism anywhere in the world.”

The attacks on several landmarks in the posh Colaba district of Mumbai began on 26th November, lasting 60 hours and leaving close to 200 dead, including foreigners.

“It is the obligation of all concerned to ensure that perpetrators of this horrible crime are brought to book. That is our message to everybody and anybody who have come here,” Singh said.

He was responding to a question whether India had requested US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during her visit here on Wednesday, to tell Pakistan to arrest Lashkar-i-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.

Underlining that “perpetrators of this crime should be brought to book”, Dr Singh said this message had been conveyed to Ms Rice when she came here. “We will wait for the outcome,” Dr Singh said when asked what options India was considering with regard to Pakistan.

Earlier in the day, Home Minister P. Chidamabaram also traced the source of terror to organisations in Pakistan.

“There is ample evidence to show that the source of the terrorist attack was clearly linked to organisations which have in the past been identified as being behind terrorist attacks in India,” Mr Chidambaram told a press conference in Mumbai.

“There are one or two countries which have broadly confirmed our preliminary conclusions,” he added. But he acknowledged there had been some security and intelligence lapses prior to the attacks. “These are being looked into and I will do my utmost … to overcome the causes of these lapses and try to improve the effectiveness of the security system,” he said.

India says Lashkar-i-Taiba militants came to Mumbai by sea. The home ministry’s top bureaucrat Madhukar Gupta on Friday reviewed a broad range of issues relating to coastal security.

The meeting also considered various aspects relating to issuance of identity cards to all fishermen and sea-faring personnel and for registration of boats. State governments were asked to review their laws and regulations in this regard and also make available the details of the same so that so far as possible uniform norms and policies could be determined.