The defense and foreign ministers of India are
speaking about boosting the country's military capabilities and the
need for the international community to crack down on states not doing
enough to fight terrorism within their own borders.
India
defense minister, A.K. Antony, is calling for the country's military to
be modernized, arguing it is operating at less than 30 per cent of the
capability the nation requires.
Antony says this needs to be done as quickly as possible because India is surrounded by "inimical elements."
The
defense minister made the remarks Wednesday in the state of Goa during
the commissioning of a new coast guard patrol vessel.
Meanwhile
here in the capital, New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee is calling for action by the international community against
countries which sponsor terrorism or allow their soil to be used to
carry out such acts. He tied the need for such resolve to the Mumbai
terror attack in late November, which India blames on Pakistani
elements.
"It
is high time for the international community to recognize that such
recalcitrant states must be brought to discipline by resorting to
various international mechanisms," said Mukherjee.
New Delhi
has been increasingly frustrated over what it sees as a lack of
concrete movement by Islamabad to neutralize and bring to justice those
responsible for the siege of Mumbai, in which more than 170 people died.
The
Indian foreign minister also acknowledges disagreement with London over
a recent statement by British Foreign Secretary David Milliband.
London's top diplomat linked the regional terror problem to the
unresolved Kashmir territorial issue between India and Pakistan.
Milliband
observed, in a British newspaper article, the Kashmir dispute gives
terrorist in the region "one of their main calls to arms."
Indian media have reacted furiously to the comment. The Asian Age
newspaper calls it "an appeasement of terrorism" while the Hindu
newspaper says the remark plays into the hands of those who justify
violent extremism.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over
Kashmir since the violent partition of the subcontinent following the
end of British rule in 1947. The banned Pakistani jihadist group India
blames for the Mumbai terror attack, Lashkar-e-Taiba, has carried out
numerous attacks on Indian soil as part of its quest to oust India from
Jammu and Kashmir.