NEW DELHI, Mar 1:
The terror attack on Pathankot Airbase in January was carried out by Pakistan’s “non-state actors” who operate with support of the Pakistani establishment, Government suggested in the Rajya Sabha today.
“The complete details will come out in the NIA investigation. But in this, non-state actors from Pakistan are surely involved. This is for sure. Any non-state actors there, they cannot function smoothly without full state support,” Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.
He was responding to a question by Shiv Sena member Sanjay Raut who wanted to know whether it was merely a terror attack or an armed operation carried out with the support of Pakistani army.
Replying to supplementaries, Parrikar said intelligence had been received about the possible attack indicating Pathankot Army installations as suspected targets.
Following the attack, steps are underway to ensure that vital defence installations in the country are secure.
“We have now done a security audit in addition to the normal security and are in the process of ensuring that all Army installations will be properly secured,” he said.
Asked if the Airbase would be shifted from Pathankot in Punjab as it is perilously close to the border, Parrikar ruled it out.
“A lot of investment has been carried out in Pathankot and it will be very costly to shift the Airbase. But we have other bases which we have created,” the Defence Minister said.
“Other bases are strategically located within the country, much inside the border, but Pathankot is also equally important because it is closer to the enemy border,” he said.
Parrikar refused to share further details of the attack, saying the NIA is already investigating the matter and investigations are on.
“..Further details about the incident cannot be given till the investigation is complete,” he said.
In a written reply, the Minister said “Government has constituted a Committee under the chairmanship of a former Vice Chief of Army Staff to inter-alia suggest measures to strengthen security of various military establishments across the country.”
He said, “The Committee appointed is to ensure that defence establishment security audit and any lack of security aspects and to further improve the security aspects and to give suggestions on that.”
He said in his written reply that a group of terrorists attacked the Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, during the intervening night of January 1 and 2, 2016 and a joint operation by the Army, Air Force and National Security Guard (NSG) was conducted to neutralise the terrorist attack.
“The terrorists were confined to non-residential and non-operational area of the base. Thereby, they were successfully prevented from damaging the strategic assets of Indian Air Force,” he said.
Meanwhile, India has told Pakistan, including at the highest level, to uphold the sanctity of the Line of Control and abide by the ceasefire commitment of 2003 along the International Border and LoC.
Minister of State for Home, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary today said ceasefire violation is taken up with Pakistani authorities through the established mechanism of hotlines, flag meetings as well as talks between the Directorate Generals of Military Operations.
“Government has repeatedly emphasised, including at the highest level, the need for Pakistan to uphold the sanctity of the LoC and abide by the ceasefire commitment of 2003 along the IB and LoC in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said in Lok Sabha in a written reply.
The Minister said there were 253 instances of ceasefire violation along the IB in 2015, 430 in 2014 and 148 in 2013.
Chaudhary said there were 121 infiltration attempts along the border in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015 of which 33 were successful. However, 46 terrorists were killed by security forces.
He said in 2014, there were 222 infiltration attempts in the state of which 65 were successful. A total of 52 terrorists were killed by the security forces that year.
The Minister noted that 208 terror incidents took place in the Valley in 2015 in which 39 security personnel and 17 civilians were killed.
There were 222 terrorist incidents in J-K in 2014 in which 47 security personnel and 28 civilians were killed, he added. (PTI)
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