With the prestigious National Defence College in the national capital being one of the prime targets of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Government on Wednesday said “adequate precaution” was being taken to safeguard the military institution.
“I think there is a constant review of threat perceptions and targets ... and we work on the safeguards adequately. You can be rest assured that adequate precaution is taken wherever there is a threat perception,” Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said when asked if the Government knew about the terrorists’ plans and steps taken to secure the institution.
Mr. Raju was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a CII organised event here.
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David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested by the FBI for plotting a major terror attack in India at the behest of Pakistan-based LeT have revealed that they were planning to attack the NDC also.
The National Defence College trains selected senior Defence and Civil Services officers in national and international security-related fields and promotes research and understanding of various linked issues.
Officers at the brigadier-level and above from the three Services and their civilian counterparts are trained at the NDC. Representatives from friendly countries are also included in the different courses run there. NDC trains about 130 officers at a time.
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Replying to a query on the Taliban threat to Pakistani nuclear arsenal, Mr. Raju said, “I think the internal security situation in Pakistan seems to be deteriorating everyday and we really don’t know how long and how far the establishment would adequately be able to safeguard their strategic assets such as the nuclear assets.”
“And I hope they are taking adequate measures and we hope that such an incident will not happen,” he said.
On steps taken by the Government to prevent recurrence of 26/11 type incidents in the future, Raju said, “We are taking all kinds of measures in terms of coordinating intelligence sharing and information gathering in order to prevent such an event from happening.”
“That is the reason we have strengthened Multi Access Centres, which will function both at the state and national levels,” he said.
The Minister said the Government was also working to ensure that the response time of the security forces is faster if any such attack takes place.
“If an instant attack should happen again, the response time (of security forces) will be faster....the more important thing is to put forward an effective response in the shortest time possible,” he added.