Two issues of security came to the fore in past couple of days. One was the launch of election manifest by the opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), positioning itself as the guardian of national security and the other was the security threat to top scientists in the country.
With elections just round the corner, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, L K Advani said, “The most worrisome issue before us today is national security.”
Terming the Congress government’s track record on terrorism as a “nightmare,” the BJP in its manifesto highlighted recent attacks on Indian soil, including a series of bombings in New Delhi and November’s terror attack on Mumbai. “Never before has India been seen so helpless in the face of terror,” the manifesto said.
The BJP vowed to strongly deal with countries promoting cross-border terrorism, to expel all illegal immigrants living in India and to revive tough anti-terror legislation that was repealed by the Congress.
In another development, fearing attack on top scientists, the government on Monday increased their security cover. This was prompted following a reported threat to kidnap or assassinate them by militants.
Threat to scientists
The movement of six scientists, associated with the satellite and rocket divisions, have also been restricted to avoid any untoward incident, following threats to their life by militant groups.
According to media reports, all ISRO installations throughout India, including the well-known Satish Dhawan Centre at Sriharikota have been provided round-the-clock additional protection. Reports also mentioned that security would be further enhanced if there was any specific instruction from higher officials.
The extra security for the scientists, including ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair, who was provided Z category security, came in the wake of information from captured Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Furfur Nawas alais Shabaz Nawaz. Nawaz had reportedly told his interrogators that the Lashkar had made plans to either kidnap or assassinate some prominent scientists, including Dr Madhavan Nair.
