New Delhi: India is capable of facing any threat to its security coming from any quarter, said Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal.
"Taliban is not a country. We cannot react to every senseless and irresponsible statement made by someone. As far as the question of destroying us is concerned, no power on this earth can destroy India. We have the capability to deal with such threats," said Jaiswal about statements made by a top al-Qaeda commander warning India of more Mumbai-style terror attacks if it tried to attack Pakistan.
The al-Qaeda commander, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in August 2008, appeared in 20-minute video in Arabic, which was was received by the BBC.
It shows Yazid - ranked behind al-Qaeda No 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri - threatening India with strikes on its economic centres if Pakistan was attacked.
"India should know that it will have to pay a heavy price if it attacks Pakistan. They will target your economic centres and raze them to the ground," al-Yazid is seen saying in the video.
The video comes at a time when US President Barack Obama's special envoy Richard Holbrooke is visiting Pakistan
Yazid denounced the ban on militant groups in Pakistan following the Mumbai attacks and asked the people of Pakistan to rise up and overthrow the government and President Asif Ali Zardari, the BBC reported.
The al-Qaeda leader is said to have been involved in a number of terror attacks, including last year's Danish Embassy bombings, in Pakistan and had claimed the responsibility of assassinating former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
He was last heard in August 2008 when he confirmed the death of al-Qaeda chemical-weapons expert Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar.
(With inputs from PTI)
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