Admits grey areas need to be addressed; audit report to be submitted soon
Director General of Police (DGP) K Rajendra Kumar said a multi-agency security audit of all vital civil and defence establishments and installations across the state was almost complete and its report was being prepared.
“As directed by the Governor, a multi-agency security audit is almost complete. The report will be submitted soon,” said the DGP.
On January 15, the Governor had reviewed existing arrangements for the safety and security of all vital civil and defence establishments and installations in Jammu and Kashmir. He had asked for completion of the security audit by January 21.
“Since it was a multi-agency security audit, it took a bit longer for us to conduct it. All security agencies came together for the task,” said the DGP.
He said the exercise was a thorough check-up of security of all vital civil and defence installations and establishments so as to look for deficiencies, if any, and plug them.
“During the audit, we found some loopholes and immediately took appropriate measures. The idea was to anticipate threats vis-à-vis security grid and take necessary precautions in the form of deterrents,” said Kumar.
When asked about intelligence inputs about terror attacks before January 26, the DGP said: “We cannot say that there are no inputs. On the contrary, incidents happen when there are no intelligence inputs. So, we have to remain alert all the time.”
The DGP, however, admitted that there were some “grey areas” where the state needed to do more.
Consequent to recurring terror attacks since September 2013 from across the international border and the Line of Control, particularly the recent Pathankot airbase attack, the Governor had been speaking to Chief Secretary BR Sharma, DGP K Rajendra Kumar, Northern Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda and senior Commanders of the security forces, asking them to undertake a time-bound review of all existing security arrangements.
On January 19, the Governor had said on 7th Raising Day of the National Investigating Agency at New Delhi that the Pathankot terror strike could have been prevented, had lessons been learnt from the previous attacks, with focus on securing the international border with Pakistan, which is not yet “well-guarded”.
“The BSF, with its limited capacities, could not effectively guard the international border (in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab), a long stretch of 200-250 km,” Vohra had said.
The Governor has been expressing concern over recurring terror attacks.
There have been two terror attacks in 2013, three in 2014, six in 2015 and one in January 2016 in the state.
In the attacks orchestrated from across the international border, three had taken place via Kathua, two via Samba and one via Arnia.
