New Delhi: Following three interviews in the media led by Gen Bipin Rawat's exclusive interview with MyNation, Congress's scam-tainted leader Palaniappan Chidambaram has cast a doubt on the capability of the country's security forces. The Indian Army chief had alluded to emulating the United States marines' action to eliminate Osama bin Laden to get rid of the masterminds of the Mumbai attack, Hafiz Saeed being on top of the list of terrorists wanted in India.

The Congress veteran said that Saeed was in a safe house in Karachi for some time after the Mumbai attacks. According to Chidambaram, Saeed roams around freely these days in Pakistan, but India does not have the capability of bumping him off in a raid fashioned like the Americans raid on bin Laden's Pakistani hideout in Abbottabad.

Worse, Chidambaram sounded like a spokesman of Pakistan. He warned that India would have to pay a heavy price if the Army undertook such a mission.

In an interview with Times Now, Chidambaram said, “We didn't have the capability then (in 2008) and I'll be pleasantly surprised if we have it now. If we had tried, we would've failed and that would have been a bigger blow.”

However, the Congress politician did add his UPA government had 'strongly' conveyed to Pakistan through diplomatic channels that any Mumbai-like repetition would invite 'retaliation'. It is not clear from the reports so far what kind of retaliation the UPA government had contemplated between 2008 and 2014 before the current NDA government replaced it.

Asked about the 26/11 attacks and whether India had the wherewithal to take out its perpetrators the way Americans killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, the Army chief had told MyNation, “We do have the capability. But there are other ways of doing similar action to bring the perpetrators to book.”

In an interview with Times Now, Gen Rawat had said, "We are doing it differently. One option is that you do what the Americans did to Osama Bin Laden. That is an option... It is possible. But the government is doing it in a different way. Pakistan is being isolated. Today, you see where Pakistan is... There has to be some action shown by the other side to say that we have taken some action."