By Devirupa Mitra, IANS,
Kabul : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday termed as “worrisome” reports that the Indian mission in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan was the target of a terror plot and said the two men arrested were paid by a “foreign intelligence service” to carry out an attack.
The prime minister, who arrived here on a two-day visit, asked to comment on the plot to attack India’s Consulate General in Jalalabad, said: “If what you have stated is true, well it is worrisome.”
He said the men were paid by a “foreign intelligence service” to attack the consulate and given a vehicle, weapons and money.
“As I said in my introductory remarks, peace and security in the region requires all countries of the region to think afresh the futility of having recourse to terrorism as an instrument of state policy,” he said at a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Karzai said he has not discussed the matter with his intelligence chief and would take it up with the security council next week.
The two leaders discussed the security situation in the region following the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan’s Abbottabad May 2.