India's Restraint After 26/11: Chidambaram Reveals US Pressure Against Military Action on Pakistan

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram revealed on Monday that India had contemplated military retaliation against Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks but ultimately decided against it due to international pressure, particularly from the United States, and advice from senior diplomatic officials.

This admission has quickly become ammunition for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which faced significant criticism from opposition parties, including Congress, in the aftermath of the Operation Sindoor ceasefire. The controversy intensified when US President Donald Trump claimed he had instructed both Delhi and Islamabad to cease hostilities, and they complied.

These political exchanges come in the wake of the horrific coordinated terrorist strikes by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba—the same group responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year—which resulted in 175 fatalities.

Chidambaram, who served as Home Minister in the Congress-led UPA government during that period, told a Hindi news channel that "the whole world descended on Delhi to tell us 'don't start a war.'"

He referenced a significant conversation with former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that influenced the government to reconsider military action. "Two or three days after I took over, Condoleezza Rice came to meet me and the Prime Minister to say 'please don't react.' I said this is a decision which the government will take. But an act of retribution did cross my mind," Chidambaram stated.

He further explained, "The Prime Minister discussed this even when the attack was ongoing, and the conclusion, largely influenced by the Ministry of External Affairs and the IFS, was that we should not physically react to the situation."

Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi seized upon these remarks, sharing a clip of the interview on X and criticizing both Chidambaram and the Congress party: "After 17 years, Chidambaram, Former Home Minister admits what the nation knew - 26/11 was mishandled due to pressure from foreign powers. Too little, too late."

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala added another dimension by bringing former Congress president Sonia Gandhi into the discussion, questioning, "Why was the UPA taking orders from her? Why did she prevail over the Home Minister?" He also raised concerns about other Pakistan-related decisions made during the UPA administration.

The BJP has consistently maintained that the May 10 ceasefire resulted from direct communications between Pakistani and Indian military directors, without any third-party involvement, including the United States. Despite these assertions and direct conversations between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump, the US leader continues to claim he "sure as hell helped" negotiate an end to nearly 100 hours of military conflict.

Operation Sindoor represented India's military response to the Pahalgam terror attack, featuring precision air strikes targeting nine terrorist camps and bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan retaliated with missile and drone strikes, triggering the most intense period of conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations since 1971.