Taking a strong view of a public meeting held in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) on Thursday in whichthose wanted for the Mumbai terror attacks were present, home minister P Chidambaram today called them the "dark forces" which would be defeated whenever confronted.
He said the meeting, which was attended by wanted Mumbai attacks perpetrators - Hafiz Saeed, Salahuddin - besides members of groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, was clear that these groups were "implacably" opposed to India.
"Their weapons are mayhem and violence and their goal is forcible annexation of Kashmir. Let me make it clear that these dark forces will not succeed in their designs. We will defeat them whenever and wherever we confront them," he said in his opening statement at the Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security here.
Later, speaking to reporters, Chidambaram, however, sought to downplay the public meeting held on a day when India announced its intention to hold peace talks, saying India is not holding talks with Hafiz Saeed.
"The government of India at the best of my understanding is not holding any talk with Hafiz Saeed. Government of India has proposed talk with Pakistan that I all know where and what manner I don't know," Chiadambaram said when asked aboutthe meeting where Jihad against India was openly talked about.
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