Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Venkaiah Naidu today said the Congress party must "openly regret" its actions in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. Naidu's comments come in the wake of David Headley's revelation that Ishrat was actually a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr. Naidu said it is unfortunate that "some people" have more confidence in Ishrat Jahan than the facts which are coming out.<br/><br/>Alleging that Congress wanted to implicate the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the case, Mr. Naidu said playing politics on a critical issue like national security is not good. On questions being raised over how much importance one should attach to the statements of Headley, Mr. Naidu said revelations have been done before a court and have evidential value now. Stating that terrorists require local cooperation to carry out their activities, Mr. Naidu said the government is all for taking strong action on matters of national security.<br/><br/>Four persons including Ishrat Jahan were killed in an encounter by Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The city crime branch had then said that those killed in the encounters were LeT terrorists and had landed in Gujarat to kill then Chief Minister Modi. However, CBI had said that the encounter was fake and executed in joint operation by the city crime branch and Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau.