© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The security breach inside Parliament on Wednesday came exactly 22 years after the December 13, 2001, attack on the building that had left nine dead.
At around 11.40 am that day, five terrorists entered the old Parliament House Complex in an Ambassador car wielding a red light and carrying a Home Ministry sticker – later found to be fake – on the windshield.
As the car moved towards Building Gate No. 12, one of the members of the Parliament House Watch and Ward Staff became suspicious, and forced the vehicle back. As it turned back, it hit then Vice-President Krishan Kant’s vehicle, after which the terrorists got down and opened fire.
By this time, an alarm was raised and all the building gates were closed. In the ensuing firing that lasted for over 30 minutes, all five terrorists were killed, along with eight security personnel and a gardener. At least 15 people were injured.
The men were carrying AK-47 rifles, grenade launchers, pistols and grenades.
While both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha had been adjourned 40 minutes prior to the incident, many MPs and ministers including then Home Minister L K Advani and Minister of State for Defence Harin Pathak were still in the building. Over 100 other MPs were also present. They all escaped unhurt.
Advani later told the Lok Sabha, “It is now evident that the terrorist assault on the Parliament House was executed jointly by Pakistan-based and supported terrorist outfits, namely, the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).”
He added: “These two organisations are known to derive their support and patronage from Pakistan’s ISI. The investigation so far carried out by the police shows that all the five terrorists who formed the suicide squad were Pakistani nationals. All of them were killed on the spot and their Indian associates have since been nabbed and arrested.”
Within days of the incident, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police announced the arrest of four individuals, saying they were tracked down with the help of leads relating to the car used and cellphone records. These were: Mohammad Afzal Guru, a former Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) militant; his cousin Shaukat Husain Guru; Shaukat’s wife Afsan Guru; and S A R Geelani, a lecturer of Arabic at Delhi University.
The incident led to increased tensions between India and Pakistan. The same day as the attack, in a demarche to then Pakistani High Commissioner to India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, India demanded that Pakistan stop the activities of the LeT and JeM, and apprehend the organisations’ leaders and seize their assets.
It subsequently led to Operation Parakram, an 11-month-long border stand-off between India and Pakistan, with heightened troop deployment.
