“If Trump Can Do It, So Can You”: Owaisi Urges PM Modi to Bring 26/11 Masterminds from Pakistan
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi cites US action in Venezuela to demand India bring back those behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
New Delhi: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take decisive action to bring the masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks back to India from Pakistan, drawing a comparison with recent US military action in Venezuela.
Referring to reports of a US operation in which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were captured, Owaisi said that if the United States could carry out such an operation, India should also act firmly against those responsible for the Mumbai attacks.
“If US President Donald Trump can abduct the President of Venezuela from his own country, then you, Prime Minister Modi, can also go to Pakistan and bring back the masterminds of the 26/11 terrorist attacks,” Owaisi said. He also made a reference to Saudi Arabia’s military actions in Yemen to underline his point about strong cross-border action.
Owaisi’s remarks came after reports that US forces conducted an overnight raid in Venezuela, capturing President Maduro and his wife and taking them to New York, where they are expected to face criminal charges related to alleged narco-terrorism activities.
Calling the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks “cruel and ruthless,” Owaisi named individuals such as Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), urging the Indian government to act against those who planned the attacks.
The 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks took place between November 26 and 29, 2008, when 10 terrorists from Pakistan-based LeT carried out a series of coordinated attacks across Mumbai. The attacks left at least 170 people dead and more than 300 injured, making it one of the deadliest terror incidents in India’s history.
The issue of the Mumbai attacks has long remained a point of political debate between the BJP-led NDA and the Congress, which was in power at the time. The BJP has often accused the Congress of adopting a soft approach towards Pakistan after the attacks.
In September 2025, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram said that India had considered retaliatory action against Pakistan following the 26/11 attacks but refrained due to pressure from the international community. He stated that then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh discussed possible responses during the attacks, but the government was advised by diplomats and the foreign ministry not to take military action.
