NEW DELHI, Dec 7:
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi today appeared before the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home and briefed the panel on various security measures being taken by the Government to augment security along the border with Pakistan, especially in the context of terror strike at Nagrota.
Seven Army personnel, including two senior officers, were killed and eight other security men injured in the terror attack carried out by three heavily-armed terrorists, who were also eliminated in the fierce encounter on November 29.
On being quizzed by the panel – headed by Congress MP and former Home Minister P Chidambaram, the Home Secretary said the strike at the army camp in Nagrota was carried out by terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based militant groups. He also said the Nagrota attack probe has been handed over to the National Investigating Agency (NIA).
The Home Ministry officials also said that armed terrorists had entered into the Army camp at Nagrota on the directions of their “foreign handlers”. The militants opened fire indiscriminately, with the sole intention to kill the Army personnel on duty, sources said.
The Standing Committee members, irrespective of party affiliations, sources said, wanted to know from the Home Secretary and other officials about steps taken to prevent such repeated attacks on camps and security establishments in Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.
The committee is also comprised of members like Sitaram Yechury (CPI-), Derek-O-Brien (Trinamool), V Maitreyan (AIADMK), Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Satya Pal Singh, Kiron Kher (BJP) and Baijayant Panda (Biju Janata Dal).
The elite probe agency NIA has re-registered a case at its police station in New Delhi. (UNI)
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