The Hindu : NSG must be placed near airports, says Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 02, 2002

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NSG must be placed near airports, says Advani

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 1. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, said today that the National Security Guard's (NSG) arrival at the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar had been delayed by a couple of hours as "they had got caught in traffic". So, a suggestion has been made that the NSG should be located closer to airports for speedy transfer to wherever they might be needed, he added.

Speaking at an anti-terrorism day function organised by the Delhi unit of the BJP here, Mr. Advani said the security forces had killed the largest number of terrorists in 2001 and 160 ISI bases had been busted. The authorities had found "three signatures" on the two persons killed at the Akshardham temple which marked them as terrorists: "they had AK 47s, grenades and pockets filled with dry fruit". They carried dry fruits "because they had planned to take the 150-200 people at the temple hostage".

Asserting that the "epicenter of terrorism had moved from Afghanistan to Pakistan", he said this was not just a challenge to India but for the rest of the world. India had to face the challenge alone and should "forget about expecting a victory in the war on terrorism with the help of the United States".

The Government had managed to convey to the country the centrality of the ISI to terrorism in India and the importance of informing the authorities about such activity. The information received by the investigating agencies on the whereabouts of those involved in the December 13 attack was an example.

Those who expressed concern about the failure of intelligence in tackling terrorism were doing "no favour to the intelligence services". It was impossible to have the upper hand when "terrorism was the tool of war", Mr. Advani said. "It is not as if our intelligence services do not give us information. Without their information, goodness knows how many of us would have survived".

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