Observing that there’s “something seriously wrong” in the country’s counter-terror establishment which failed to prevent the Pathankot attack despite intelligence inputs in advance, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on Tuesday, however, said the Punjab Police’s role was also very “questionable and suspicious”. The panel also maintained that the attack could not have taken place without active support from the security and intelligence agencies of Pakistan as four armed men could not easily pass through their heavy Defence establishment situated near the border. MoS Home Kiren Rijiju said the internal security was more robust today.
The panel observed the security cover of the Pathankot airbase “was not robust” and pointed out instances of delays and failures in swift operations, even after getting g information from the released SP of Pathankot.
“The Committee understands that in this attack, the role of Punjab Police is also very questionable and suspicious as even after abduction of Punjab Police SP, the Punjab Police took long time in arriving at the conclusion that their abduction was not just a criminal robbery but it was going to be serious national security threat,” the panel noted.
Expressing doubts on the behaviour of the SP of Pathankot and his friend captured and released by terrorists, the Committee said the investigations should also focus on the narcotic syndicates in the border areas of the state. “Besides, the Committee is of the view that the role of narco-syndicate active in border areas of Punjab should also be investigated as the terrorists might have taken help of channels or networks used by smugglers to infiltrate the border, shelter and carry out terror attack,” it said.
During its visit to the airbase, the panel found that there were no roads around the perimeter wall of the strategic airbase. There were growth of long shrubs and trees on the premises which have helped terrorists in hiding and making difficult for security forces in flushing out the terrorists.
“The committee during its visit found that airbase’s security cover was not robust and it had a poorly guarded perimeter wall,” the report said. The panel said there cannot be two opinion on the fact that Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group was behind this ghastly attack which was established through interception of calls between terrorists and their handlers based in Pakistan, thanks to their use of robbed mobile phones from Pathankot SP and his friend.
“In view of the ease with which the terrorists sneaked into our side from Pakistan, the Committee understands that the attack cannot take place without active support from the security and intelligence agencies of Pakistan as four armed men cannot easily pass through heavy Pakistani defence establishment situated near border area,” it said.
