3 min readNew DelhiAug 7, 2008 12:00 AM IST
First published on: Aug 7, 2008 at 01:24 AM IST
The Indian High Commission in Colombo on Wednesday termed as a “security lapse” and put on record the three security gaffes that cropped up in the special security cover given to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during the SAARC summit in Colombo last week.
“The attention of this High Commission has been drawn to various media reports regarding the security cover to M K Narayanan, National Security Advisor, during the recently concluded 15th SAARC Summit,” the Indian mission in Colombo said in a statement. “The High Commission wishes to state that there was a serious lapse in that. Some of the arrangements discussed and agreed to in advance, did not get implemented on the ground,” the statement said.
The High Commission said the matter was immediately discussed with Sri Lankan security authorities and remedial measures taken jointly. “It is not the practice of this High Commission to comment on security issues in detail. Sri Lankan security authorities have apologised to Mr Narayanan. We now consider this matter closed,” it said.
The security lapses happened on three instances. The first one took place as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Sri Lankan security liaison officer failed to turn up, when the PM finished his official engagements at the SAARC summit. Indian security officials didn’t wait for the Sri Lankan officer, supposed to accompany the PM in his cavalcade, and started moving. Just then, the Sri Lankan official turned up and started running after the motorcade asking the Indian security officials to stop. Fearing the worst, the Indian securitymen stopped, and the confusion cleared.
In the second instance, the Mukherjee’s motorcade was diverted to a different location. This happened as Mukherjee was allowed to travel, along with the Prime Minister’s motorcade, which is not the usual protocol.
This granting of special status to Mukherjee was not conveyed to the security officials at the ground level, and this led to confusion where the securitymen did not allow Mukherjee’s motorcade to reach the destination, where he along with the PM were supposed to alight. Instead, his motorcade was diverted to a different place.
And in the third one, Narayanan’s car was taken to a different point, while he waited at the exit gates of the summit venue. He was offered a ride by senior MEA officials, and this infuriated Narayanan.
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