This was an attack on India: Advani

Leader of Opposition L K Advani said on Wednesday that the serial bomb blasts on Mumbai's suburban trains have brought to the fore the need for an anti-terrorist law.

"The blasts show that the government of Pakistan has not kept up its committment to dismantle anti-India terrorist infrastructure on Pakistani soil," Advani told reporters after visiting the injured at Bhabha and KEM hospitals and Mahim railway station, one of the seven blast sites.

Refusing to criticise Maharashtra government directly, he said, "This is a time when raja and praja must unitedly face the challenge before them."

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said it was the responsibility of the Central and Maharasthra governments to demolish the terrorist modules operating within.

About the blasts themselves, he said they were far more well-coordinated than London metro blasts last year.

Referring to media reports about the alleged involvement of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, he said, "Its footprints and those of similar anti-national elements must be investigated and erased."

Just like the 9/11 attacks were not just an attack on New York, but the entire United States, Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai were not just an attack on the commercial capital but on the entire nation, Advani added. 

Replying to a query on the Union Home Secretary's statement that Indo-Pak peace process will continue, Advani said, "If you want to deal firmly with terrorism we should not give an impression that you are ready to make any compromise. The image of being a soft nation encourages terrorism."

He also demanded that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim be brought to India to stand trial in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

Suspecting the don's role in Tuesday's serial blasts, Advani said Dawood is to 7/11 what Osama Bin Laden is to 9/11.

Dawood has been named absconding accused in the March 12, 1993 serial blasts case in which CBI has alleged that the underworld don masterminded the explosions to destablise the country.

After several claims by India that Dawood was hiding in Pakistan, the neighbouring country has denied reports that he was holed up in the country.