Dear Friends:
This article by Hari Kumar in India Ink, New Work Times, sheds light on
India's security in the most vital political institution.
Click on
John McConnico/Associated Press
Indian Black Cat commandos escort civilians outside the Parliament
House complex in New Delhi during the Dec. 13, 2001 terror attack, in
this file photo.
A decade after a suicide attack on India’s Parliament that killed nine,
the grand sandstone building in New Delhi seems firmly under security
agencies’ control.
It has been equipped with more and better-trained manpower carrying
sophisticated arms, new detector gadgets, sniffer dogs and armored
vehicles that patrol the Parliament campus. International defense
companies were pulled in, including EADS which supplies a radio network
and Israel’s NICE Systems, which supplies video analysis.
Parliament’s security chief, P. R. Meena, keeps a close eye on
everything from his office full of big digital screens in the main
building. “Security upgradation is a continuous process,” Mr. Meena
said. As new technology is introduced, the building keeps updating, he
said. The total amount spent on Parliament’s heightened security is not
available but is estimated to be in millions of dollars.
B Mathur/Reuters
The Parliament House.
On Dec. 13, 2001, a heavily armed suicide squad of five men, carrying
grenades, AK-47s with multiple magazines and explosives drove into the
six-acre Parliament grounds in a white Ambassador car with a red
flashing light on the roof and a fake entry pass on its windscreen.
The white Ambassador with a flashing red light, or lal batti, is the
preferred method of transport for senior politicians and government
officials. During a 20-minute gun battle, the attackers killed eight
people and fatally wounded another, before dying themselves. Four were
shot and a fifth exploded himself on the main steps of the building.
The attackers could not enter the main building.
“The biggest mistake on that day was that the fake vehicle entry pass
was not detected by the security men at the entry gate,” said Ajai Raj
Sharma, who was the Delhi police commissioner at that time.
Now nobody can enter the walled campus without a proper photo identity
card or radio frequency card. Every nook and cranny seems to be fitted
with high-resolution closed circuit television cameras. Tire-busters,
bollard barriers, electronic barriers, X-ray machines and metal
detectors are all placed at the entry points. Trained commandos sitting
in armored vehicles keep a close watch.
Visitors are checked at multiple points when they enter. “We do not
compromise on multiple frisking,” said Mr. Meena. At all of the search
points, two security men will do the frisking: one will check above the
belt and the other, sitting on a chair, will check below the belt. “An
intruder can escape from one point but not from second or third,” Mr.
Meena said.
The Parliament of India, a grand, circular sandstone building with
pillars and domes, was completed in 1927 at the cost of 8.3 million
Indian rupees at that time.
The attack nearly provoked a war between nuclear rivals India and
Pakistan, after a Pakistani group was blamed by India for the raid. The
armed forces of the two countries stood poised on the border for
several months.
“Initially we thought that it is a political stunt by some protestors
who are using fire crackers,” said parliamentarian Kirti Azad, who
witnessed the attack and is a member of a joint committee for
Parliament’s security. Security forces pushed parliamentarians inside
building from outside corridors, he said.
Mr. Azad recalls seeing the body of an attacker 45 minutes after the
attacks. “He was handsome, six and half feet tall, lying dead on the
floor along with his AK-47 with three magazines and dry fruits in his
back pack,” Mr. Azad said. “It seems they had a long plan.”
Delhi police arrested four people who helped in carrying out the
attack. Two were later acquitted due to lack of evidence. Muhammad
Afzal, also known as Afzal Guru, was given the death sentence and is
appealing the president for a mercy petition, while the fourth was
sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Today, parliamentarians say they are satisfied with the security. “It
looks to be satisfactory, but at times progress is slow. Nothing is
foolproof in security, you have to be alert all the time” Mr. Azad said.
Still, if there is any repeat of the 2001 attacks, “They will be taken
care of,” Mr. Azad predicted
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