Pranab rules out military action: Rice arrives Wednesday

India has said it was not contemplating military action against Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack. “Nobody is talking of military action,” external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters. Mukherjee’s statement comes on the eve of the arrival of US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Rice has expressed confidence that there will not be any conflict between the two neighbours. But she told reporters a day earlier that the US government wants Pakistan to ensure total transparency in sharing any details on the 26/11 attacks with India. Pakistan has now offered India a joint team to probe the Mumbai attacks and underlined that it would “frame a response” to New Delhi’s demand for handing over 20 of India’s most wanted men.

“The international community is behind us, including the newly-elected US president, Barack Obama,” Mukherjee said. In response to a query on US President-elect Barack Obama’s remarks that every country had the sovereign right to “protect” its citizens from such terror attacks, Mukherjee said, “What will be done, time will show.”

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