Pathankot, March 5

There are some “disturbing” inputs about a terror attack in India aimed at creating the “maximum media impact” during the Shivratri festival and the ongoing Parliament session, a top army commander disclosed here today with an assurance that steps have been taken to deal with it.“There are security related problems today. You know, Maha Shivratri is coming. There are inputs which are disturbing but notwithstanding that extra care has been taken,” Western Army Commander Lt Gen KJ Singh told reporters here on the sidelines of a function. When asked to elaborate, he refused but said such events were planned to create “maximum media impact”.“See elaboration is neither required nor warranted. These events (terror attacks) are planned to create maximum media impact and when can you create a media impact when Parliament is in session, when a festival is taking place, so both happen to be going on… so that is why, there are inputs but we have taken steps against that. I must assure you of that,” he said.The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Western Command went on to add that such “mischievous” activities will not deter a great nation as the Army is fully geared to meet any eventuality.“We want to tell whoever has got this mischievous intentions that nothing can deter us, one Pathankot, one Arnia, one Janglot, once more Samba, cannot deter us. This nation is too great. The Indian Army is fully organised. We will take care of every situation,” Lt Gen Singh said.When asked about inputs that some Pakistan-based terrorist commanders were in touch with their Kashmiri counterparts, he said, “there are certain inputs. There are certain indications. I should only tell you this much that we are fully prepared for that.”With regard to the detection of a tunnel in Jammu on the International Border with Pakistan, he said it had helped avert a major terror attack. He added that a survey would be carried out in all the border areas to see if there are any more such tunnels, for which a team of officials of Home Ministry and other security agencies has been formed. — PTI

Another Pathankot-like attack was being planned

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Amk Post (RS Pura), March 5It is no reel scene from a Bollywood flick. Had Pakistan’s secret tunnel gone undetected and the terrorists sneaked in, the heavily militarised Satwari Cantonment, with Jammu Air Force Station and Tiger Division headquarters, was just six km away for them via the almost dry Nikki Tawi river.The tunnel that originated from Afzal Saeed post on Pakistan’s side and crossed India’s defence layers of an embankment and five-foot-wide barbed fence, ran close to the Nikki Tawi river.“For trained terrorists who staged the Pathankot airbase attack, covering between six and seven km via the Nikki Tawi river and reaching the heavily militarised area in Satwari would have been no big deal,” said sources in the counter-insurgency wing of the police.“Satwari houses the Jammu Air Force Station, Military Hospital, Tiger Division headquarters, several schools of the Army and Air Force and a convent school,” they said.There had been numerous instances of Pakistani terrorists sneaking in via the international border, covering between 10 and 12 km through the night, appearing on the Jammu-Pathankot highway and staging attacks, they added.The Nikki Tawi, in the vicinity of Jammu, had no serious checkpoint. Barely two km from the tunnel, residents of Basti Derian village were frightened following the latest development.“Never before did we see or hear about a tunnel being dug in our area. It has happened for the first time since 1947. Had they succeeded in their sinister designs, terrorists could have caused carnage,” said Chain Singh, a grocer.He said the village had three high schools. “We could have been soft targets for gun-wielding ultras,” he said.Narayan Singh, a village elder, said AMK Post had been witness to Pakistani shelling and firing, but there was no intrusion bid so far. “This development has certainly sent a shiver down our spines,” he said.“It was a coincidence that a BSF tractor passed over the stretch and the land caved in. Had this not taken place, armed terrorists could have spelt doom on poor villagers in the night,” he added.Ram Pal and Tilak Raj, who echoed similar views, said the spot where the tunnel had been detected was close to the Nikki Tawi.