Scaling up the offensive against the government over Pathankot terror attack, the Congress on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fix responsiblity for the “grave security lapse” and suggested that some heads must roll.
“They should realize that it has gone wrong and resignations should happen. If there is a lapse, resignations should happen,” former Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters at the AICC briefing when repeatedly asked whether Congress is demanding resignation of Home Minister Rajnath Singh or Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar into the matter.
“This government has totally failed. It has no system in place to protect the nation,” he added.
AICC Communication Department chairman Randeep Surjewala also said that the Prime Minister should fix the responsibility and take action against the Home and Defence Ministers.
“First responsibility is of the Prime Minister as he is the head of the government. Then Defence Minister and Home Minister are also responsible as they deal with the matter.
The Prime Minister should act decisively and not merely talk.
“The Prime Minister should fix responsibility for this negligence and he reaches to the same conclusion that the nation has arrived at that there has been a huge lapse in the nation’s security, he should then take action against the Defence Minister and the Home Minister,” Surjewala said.
The party asked whether the Prime Minister and the BJP government would explain as to who was responsible for the “grave security lapse” as terrorists managed to reach Pathankot Air Base despite advance intelligence alert and reporting of prior incident.
Multiple lapses
The terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase was a result of a series of systemic security failures at various levels.
| 1 | Despite a huge concentration of Army units in andaround Pthankot, why were they not tasked with securing the airbase? |
| 2 | Despite statements by SP Salwinder Singh and his cook that they were intercepted by terrorists, why did the Punjab police not act? |
| 3 | Why was the Army not deployed for combing operations? |
| 4 | Why were Garud personnel and Defence Security Corps, who are not trained for anti-terror operations, the primary responders? |
| 5 | With so many security agencies involved, who was in charge of the operation against the terrorists? |
Accusing the government of having “totally failed” on the security front, the Congress leaders played out video clips of Modi favouring a tough approach to deal with Pakistan and slamming UPA government’s handling of Pakistan affairs before the Lok Sabha polls.
Wondering why the NDA goverment is “soft on Pakistan” over the Pathankot attack, the Congress leaders asked why the BJP government led by Modi was “shying away” from calling the Pathankot Air Base attackers as “Pakistani terrorists”, more so when they were loaded with fire arms, explosives, clothes, shoes and logistic support from Pakistan with “handlers located in Pakistan” as reflected by telephone transcripts.
Surjewala and Shinde also wondered why the Modi government has not lodged a formal protest till date with Pakistan government, summoned their High Commissioner and taken a decision to place the matter before international fora, so as to “expose and isolate Pakistan” as a state that is “abetting and permitting its soil to be used for anti-India terror activities”.
