Manohar Parrikar expresses grief over Quetta attack

New Delhi: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday expressed grief over the terror attack in Quetta city in Pakistan that killed at least 59 persons and said terrorism in any form can't be justified.

"Non-state actors involved in terrorism should be curtailed. Sometimes, it bounces (back) on you also... I think this is one of such incidents; but I regret the loss of life. My sympathies are with those who lost their lives. Terrorism anywhere, in any form, cannot be justified," he said on the sidelines of the Naval Commanders' Conference here.

"... non-state actors should not be supported by any country. That is the crux of our security doctrine," the Minister said without naming Pakistan. 

At least 59 people were killed on Monday night when heavily armed militants wearing suicide vests stormed a police academy in Quetta, officials said on Tuesday, terming it one of the deadliest extremist attacks this year.

Giving an example from Hindu mythology wherein a demon Bhasmasur got a boon of reducing to ashes anyone he touched on the head but was in the end tricked into self-destruction, Parrikar said: "There is a story of demon Bhasmasur... I am not naming any country; I am telling you a (mythological) story that tells us not to unleash uncontrollable violence," he said.

Parrikar said there was a rise in the number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Line of Control and called it a reaction to the activities of last month, alluding to the September 29 surgical strikes by Indian Army on terror launch pads across the LoC.

"Wherever it (ceasefire violation) happens, we have retaliated with enough force... it is a reaction from the other (Pakistan) side for earlier happenings. I don't intend to use any words here. Whatever happened last month, this (violations) is a reaction to that (surgical strikes). We are retaliating with force," he said.