NEW DELHI : A Parliamentary panel today criticised the government and its security agencies for failing to thwart the January 2 Pathankot airbase terror attack despite terror alert being sounded well in advance.
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs in its report, presented in the Rajya Sabha, said that something was seriously wrong with counter-terror security establishment. “The Committee is unable to understand that in spite of terror alert being sounded well in advance, how did the terrorists manage to breach the high-security air base and subsequently attack,” the committee said in its report.
During its visit to the Pathankot airbase, the Committee found that the security of the IAF installation was not robust and it had poorly guarded perimeter wall. Raising serious questions on the anti-terror mechanism, the Committee noted that despite concrete and credible intelligence, the security agencies of the country “were so ill-prepared to anticipate threats in time and counter them swiftly and decisively.”
“Despite fencing, floodlighting and patrolling by BSF personnel, Pakistani terrorists managed to sneak into India from across the border,” the report said. The Committee also said that the role of Punjab Police was “very questionable and suspicious”, as even after abduction of one of its Superintendent of Police (SP) it took very long to arrive at the conclusion that it was not just a criminal robbery but a serious national security threat.
In view of the series of attacks from across the international border, the Committee recommended that the Government should pay attention to effectively sealing the border through enhanced patrolling, fencing, flood lighting etc . (UNI)
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