Will teach a lesson to mastermind of Pathankot airbase attack, says Parrikar

New Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said India will "surely" teach a lesson to the mastermind of the Pathankot airbase attack and admitted that the terrorists were probably inside the air base even before intelligence about an impending strike was received.

Noting that India "is losing much of its patience", Parrikar said the country will give tit-for-tat. "Eent ka jawaab patthar se denge (we will reply to bricks with stones)," he said.

Parrikar said the "pushers" of the attacks were in Pakistan, refusing to disclose further details.

"You have to plan. Here I have named individual and organisation, and has not named any country, because if it's against a country, then it means war. We want to teach a lesson to the individual. Where and when, that will be our choice," Parrikar said in Rajat Sharma's show 'Aap Ki Adalat' on India TV.

Asked why India has not launched a counter-attack against terror camps in Pakistan after the Pathankot incident, Parrikar was quoted in a press release by India TV as saying that the time will be chosen by India.

"How do you know where we should strike and where we should not. Such things are not disclosed in public. We must have the capability. And Pakistan... I will not name any country... They take sort of fights with us by sending terrorists. Such people need to be taught a lesson. There is no question mark in it. But when, how and at what time, should be decided based on our convenience," he said.

Parrikar said there has been fresh information that some of the Pathankot attackers were inside the air base even before the intelligence was received.

"Some people have inferred wrongly about the gaps that I had mentioned. The air base has a 25-kilometre periphery, and they should not have entered, but we got advance information only 10-12 hours earlier. Now more information has come saying probably they (attackers) were in before the intelligence was received by us. Anyway that will be investigated by agencies. That is the gap which I was saying," he said.

Told that the terrorists got trained at a Pakistani air base, Parrikar said he can't reveal the details because "as we say, no one tells the world what you do and what happens inside a bedroom. So in such operations, nothing is revealed to the world, but we will do it surely".

Asked why India was not carrying out cross-border strike against terror camps as it did against the NSCN(K) rebels "inside Myanmar", Parrikar said he would not disclose much in such matters, otherwise "the surprise element will be gone".

"Once it happens, you will come to know about it. In the North-East, those who attacked our 6 Dogra (regiment)...We didn't tell them what we were going to do," he was quoted as saying.