NEW DELHI, Mar 26 : The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs has said that the Central Government has “not learnt any lesson from the Pathankot attack” and recommended that there remains an urgent need to further strengthen the Security network in the country.
The Committee headed by former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram which also comprises Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Derek O’ Brien (Trinamool), Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress) and Prem Singh Chandumajra (Akali Dal) said that the Government ought to “plug the serious gaps in security establishment and intelligence gathering or sharing that have come to the fore in the recent (terror) attacks”.
Despite several steps reportedly taken by the Government to strengthen the security measures, it has comprehensively failed to prevent recurrence of such attacks that took place at Pampore, Uri, Baramula, Handwara and Nagrota.
The Committee observes that the Government has not learnt any lesson from the Pathankot attack,” it said.
The report presented in both Houses of Parliament, said that it “does not share” the perception of the Ministry of Home Affairs that overall internal security scenario remained under control during 2016.
“The Committee is constrained to note that 82 personnel of security forces were martyred last year. At the same time, the committee is anguished at the vulnerabilities and loop holes in Security of the establishment of the forces exposed by a series of terrorist attacks that occurred in 2016,” the panel said.
The panel also asked the government to “put rigorous efforts to completely stop infiltration from across the border and prevent all types of terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir”.
The Committee, however, felt “the terrorism in the hinterland of the country and Left Wing Extremism remained comparatively muted during 2016”.
Nevertheless, the report said, “The Committee is constrained to observe that lack of financial resources is becoming a reason for casualty of valuable lives of police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel which are “being lost in the battle against Left Wing Extremism”. The panel also asked the government to augment vehicular preparedness for police and Central Armed Police Forces and said the government should explore opportunities created by the ‘Make in India’ programme and develop indigenous vehicles.
It also said the Ministry should explore other measures including import of suitable vehicles. (AGENCIES)
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