Twenty years after terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba carried out an audacious attack on Parliament, there is renewed focus on securing vital installations and protecting parliamentarians. The focus is not just on security inside Parliament but also during VIP movements and to handle threats that have metamorphosed into technologically advanced threats like drone strikes on vital installations and VIPs.
The attack on Parliament was a grim reminder of gaps in intelligence gathering and demonstrated the need for more actionable intelligence to thwart new-age threats. In 2001, the five JeM and LeT terrorists had gone unnoticed when they infiltrated into Kashmir from across the border in small batches and split into one-man units who were then directed to travel to Delhi.
This happened over a period of two months during which they gathered logistics, recced the target in Delhi and lay undetected till the day of the attack. Dressed in camouflage fatigues, carrying fake identity cards and driving a second-hand Ambassador car, they managed to carry out the shocking strike that led to a military standoff between India and Pakistan.
“A lot has changed since the 2001 attack,” said K. Srinivasan, former IG in CRPF and BSF, who handled the intelligence wing in both police organisations.
“Electronic surveillance is being used by multiple forces to keep a hawk’s eye round the clock,” he explained.
What has also changed is the increased threats to political leaders at election rallies and during movements of convoys of senior ministers, which is causing worry to security agencies.
“If an attack takes place during the movement of a convoy from a drone, which starts dropping weapons, or other technologically advanced threats, we need to prepare for that,” said an NSG official.
The black cat commandos are being prepared to launch a counter offensive at the shortest possible time even as the critical task of coordination with other ground forces is being emphasised during drills.
The task of providing security cover to VIPs has slowly been shifted from the SPG and NSG to the Central armed police forces like CRPF and ITBP in the last few years.
Today, the SPG is only giving protection to the prime minister and former prime ministers and the NSG has a total of ten VIPs on its list.
Protecting VIPs and parliamentarians with increased threat perception are a mixed bag of responsibility of several forces not just outside Parliament but also within.
The Parliament House Complex includes the Parliament House, Parliament House Annexe and Parliament Library Building. The security arrangements within the complex are being coordinated by Central armed police forces like Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Intelligence Bureau, Delhi Police, Special Protection Group, National Security Guards and Parliament Security Service.
While the director (security) of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has operational control over the Parliament Security Service in the Rajya Sabha sector, the joint secretary (security) in Lok Sabha Secretariat is the overall in-charge of security operations of entire Parliament.
This includes the Parliament Security Services of both the secretariats, Delhi Police, the 1,500 strong Parliament Duty Group (PDG) and all the other allied security agencies operating within the complex.
The Parliament Security Service is the in-house security service and plays an important role in providing preventive and protective security to the VIPs, VVIPs and the Parliament building.
It is responsible for access control into the Parliament House Complex with the help of modern security gadgets and maintaining proper liaison with other security agencies.
According to Parliament officials, new security procedures have been introduced into the security management to counter the changing modus operandi of terrorist outfits and individuals posing severe threat to Parliament and its VIPs.
On the other hand, Central armed forces like NSG have modern weaponry and are being assisted by sharpshooters and SWAT commandos of Delhi Police as they take control of the periphery of Parliament.
The attack on Parliament not only changed the way security forces operated but also conducted investigations. This was the first case in which New Delhi nailed Pakistan's involvement in harbouring terrorists.
“It was also the fastest conviction,” said Ajay Raj Sharma, former Delhi Police commissioner. Afzal Guru was awarded death sentence in 2002 and hanged in 2013.
Two decades later, the bad news is that 150-odd LeT and JeM terrorists are still waiting at different launch pads across the border waiting for an opportune time to enter the country. With US Army weapons in their hands after the withdrawal of forces in Afghanistan, the worry once again is that these terrorists will make attempts to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir and travel to the hinterland to stir trouble.
With masterminds like JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar still roaming free and getting support of “state actors” in Pakistan, New Delhi cannot lower its guard anytime.
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Whether it is the 2019 Pulwama terror strike or the first drone attack at the Jammu air base in 2021, increased use of technology has been making it difficult to identify the actual masterminds behind the attacks. The National Investigation Agency has been grappling with the probe into the Jammu air base attack with no trace of the perpetrators unlike 2001 when security forces gunned down terrorists and thwarted a major attack.
A senior intelligence official said the thumb rule in counter-terrorism is still the need to focus on better intelligence-gathering mechanisms. “We have to be extremely watchful of the kind of intelligence that is fed into the system. If the warnings are vague, they can go unnoticed,” said the official.
The multi-agency centre under the Intelligence Bureau has units for intelligence gathering at the district level today. The recently set up National Intelligence Grid also promises to give security agencies a database on suspects with information on their travel, banking, Railway and mobile records with the click of a button.
A home ministry official said the focus is on prevention and detection at the borders. “It has to be nipped in the bud,” said the official.