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Mullaperiyar dam: How serious is the terror threat?

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Chennai, July 3: Tamil Nadu had told the Supreme Court of India that the Mullaperiyar dam faces a terrorist threat. The submission was made today before the Supreme Court which is hearing a petition by Tamil Nadu seeking the deployment of CISF at the dam.

Mullaperiyar dam: Kerala's request to TN for an early alert meets with no responseMullaperiyar dam: Kerala's request to TN for an early alert meets with no response

Tamil Nadu has been seeking CISF protection at the dam on various grounds. Currently the security of the dam is with the Kerala government.

Mullaperiyar dam under terror radar

The Supreme Court has directed Kerala to respond to the plea by Tamil Nadu to deploy CISF security at the dam.

Terrorist threat to dam:

Intelligence Bureau officials, both state and central say that dams have been a prime target for terrorist groups. Tamil Nadu does face a major terrorist threat from ISI sponsored groups which are operating out of Sri Lanka.

The recent arrest of Sakir Hussain, a Colombo based ISI operative revealed that terrorist groups had planned on targeting several installations in South India. The primary agenda was to target installations in Tamil Nadu in a bid to set up a full fledged ISI sponsored module in the state.

Tamil Nadu state intelligence bureau officials have told the government that the Mullaperiyur dam is a likely target. The situation is quite tense in the area with both the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala locked in a battle pertaining to rising of the water level. The intelligence report states that some terrorist groups may look to take advantage of the situation and damage the dam.

How serious is the threat?
The threat according to intelligence bureau is Grade B. This would mean that the threat from terrorist groups is not very serious, but it would also indicate that security needs to be stepped up. There have been a lot of protests in the area and anyone could take advantage of the situation to cause damage to the dam.

Moreover terrorist groups are aware of the volatile situation that prevails and could take advantage of it, IB officials also say. Terrorist groups from Pakistan have often looked to target dams in India.

Last year there was an intelligence bureau report which suggested that most dams in the country were under the radar of terrorist outfits. Hafiz Saeed the leader of the dreaded Lashkar-e-Tayiba who has been accusing India of water terrorism was said to have instructed his cadres to carry out strikes on dams across India.

OneIndia News

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