Pakistan must close Terror Camps: Chidambaram

Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday urged Pakistan's “friends'' like Britain and the U.S. to put pressure on it to shut down terror camps operating from its soil. Warning that Pakistan-based groups posed as much threat to the West as they did to India, he told the BBC, “The camps must be closed. Training must come to an end.'' Mr. Chidambaram, who discussed counter-terror measures with his British counterpart Alan Johnson during a visit to the U.K. earlier this week, regretted that Pakistan had failed to respond to India's persistent plea for it to rein in terror groups “Nothing so far,'' was his reply to a question whether there had been any progress. Asked how could Pakistan be persuaded, he said: “The U.K., the U.S. know the answer to that question better. Certainly, we have not been able to persuade Pakistan. It is Pakistan's friends, mutual friends, who would have to bring pressure on Pakistan.” He said it would be “naïve” for Western countries to think that terrorists operating from Pakistan posed a threat to India alone. “Once you allow these terror groups to train, recruit and build capacity to strike, they can strike in India, they can strike in the U.K., they can strike in Denmark as they were planning out of the Karachi project,” he said.

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