Madurai, Nov 1 (IANS) Home Minister P. Chidambaram has warned Pakistan
“not to play with India” by covertly sponsoring terrorists.

Addressing a public meeting here Saturday, the minister said: “The Mumbai attacks (of November 2008) should be Pakistan’s last game. I have warned the country not to play with India.”

Talking tough, Chidambaram said that terrorists and militants attacking India would not only be defeated but would also face retaliation.

Chidambaram’s comments came three days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

extended a hand of friendship to Pakistan but asked Islamabad to stop backing terrorists acting against India.

Chidamabaram also said that both Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments had underestimated the Maoists but insisted that they would not succeed in their actions.

He reiterated that the central government was willing to have a dialogue with them on the condition that the Maoists lay down their arms, he said.

According to him, Naxalites were “not enemies like Pakistani terrorists as they are our own countrymen”.