Parliamentary panel frowns upon 'loopholes' in security

Rejecting the government’s claim of overall improvement in internal security, a Parliamentary panel on Wednesday expressed anguish over the “vulnerabilities and loopholes” in the security apparatus that were exposed by terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by former home minister P Chidambaram, minced no words in saying that the panel did “not share the perception” of the Ministry of Home Affairs that the “overall internal security scenario remained under control during 2016”.

It said that Maoist terrorism in the hinterland was “comparatively muted” but that “the opposite is, however, true in the case of cross-border terrorism” in Kashmir, which “remained on the boil” throughout 2016.

The panel said that a “new trend” of violence has emerged, in which security establishments of paramilitary and armed forces are targeted, which resulted in the death of 82 personnel last year.

The panel said that there is a “sinister and complex connection between the simultaneous rise” in stone-pelting incidents and suicide attacks on establishments of security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

The panel also said that it was “aware of the disturbing trend of recruitment and training” of local youth by militants in the light of the numerous infiltration bids foiled by the forces.

“There has been a rise in the number of law and order incidents, particularly incidents of stone pelting, which seem to have become a regular feature in some parts of Kashmir. Numerous incidents of picketing of police stations and snatching of rifles from the police and paramilitary personnel point towards local sourcing of arms,” the panel noted.

The committee wanted the ministry to work towards “comprehensively breaking this nexus” through a multi-pronged strategy that include preventing youth from joining the terrorists, choking terror funds and supply of arms. It should also launch counter insurgency operations, the panel said.

The panel wanted the ministry to put in “rigorous efforts” to completely stop infiltration from across the border and prevent all types of terror activities.

The security of the establishments of the forces should be tightened and the incidents of attacks on establishments of the forces should not be allowed to recur, the panel said.