Modi should counsel his ministers

Congress yesterday came down hard on Union ministers for making "boastful and jingoistic" statements on the Army operation in Myanmar and asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give them "mentoring and counselling".

The defence minister has "foot-in-mouth" disease and is in the "habit" of making "irresponsible" statements, said party spokesman Anand Sharma.

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"There should be sobriety and maturity. Jingoism and boastful claims are not going to help the operations of India's special forces," he said.

Sharma's attack came on a day defence minister Manohar Parrkiar attributed the Myanmar operation to "change in mindset". Taking a dig at Pakistan, the minister said those who "fear India's new posture" have already started reacting.

It also comes a day after Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian state minister for information and broadcasting, said India's military action in Myanmar to hit back at rebels who killed 18 soldiers in Manipur was a message to other countries.

Sharma, who has been a senior minister during the UPA rule, also advised national security advisor to work and speak with restraint and said that his style of functioning raised serious questions of propriety.

Sharma said the prime minister should have drawn lesson from Nepal experience. "During the quake relief operations, there was a publicity and propaganda overkill which caused us embarrassment," he said.

The Congress spokesman's refrain was that in matters of operations by special forces and those concerning India's neighbours, there should be sobriety and maturity in the statements and actions of Union ministers and others concerned.

The growing suggestion that India could repeat a Myanmar in Pakistan if the latter does not crack down on terror groups it has patronised, prompted Pakistan on Wednesday to react bellicosely, warning against any such "misadventure" inside its territory.

Pakistan is not Myanmar, and India should not think of repeating such an exercise inside Pakistani territory," said Pakistan interior minister Nisar Ali Khan.

Rathore exulted on Tuesday after Indian Army declared its successful operation against an "imminent "terror threat and stressed its determination to resort to similar actions to secure the country, citizens and the Army. Rathore said, "We will strike at a place and time of our choosing."

Rathore's statement, echoed by several of his ministerial colleagues, suggested that such incisions by inimical forces on India's western borders, or a strong provocation like the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, could witness similar action by the Indian Army.

Indian commandos smashed two insurgent camps inside Myanmar territory. Myanmar was told about the cross-border raid when it was half way through.

The unusual toughness by India was seen as an application of the doctrine of pre-emption that the US has invoked to strike at terror threats, real as well as potential, in diverse locations outside its territory and without being hindered by issues of jurisdiction.

Suggestions by Indian government functionaries that India could launch cross-border strikes against terrorists harboured also by other neighbours seemed to have touched a raw nerve in Pakistan which suffered a huge humiliation when US commandos stormed Osama bin Laden's hideout in the garrison town of Abbotabad without keeping Islamabad in the loop.

Its unease was indicated by Khan. Stressing that those who harbour "bad intentions" towards Pakistan should open their eyes and ears, the interior minster said, "Pakistani Army is fully capable of responding to any adventurism."