Rajnath, Parrikar take stock of Pathankot terror strike

New Delhi, Jan 15: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday took stock of the January 2 Pathankot terror strike at a meeting here, discussing the "take-aways" from the incident.

The ministers appreciated the work done by the intelligence agencies in giving advance warning of the attack in effectively meeting the challenge and minimising the possible damage, an official statement later said.

The two ministers also appreciated the bravery shown by the security forces in the incident and paid homage to those who sacrificed their lives during the entire operation of clearing the Pathankot airbase.

"Discussions were held on the means to further strengthen the prevention, detection and foiling of such dastardly attacks. It was felt that the many strengths displayed by all the agencies concerned, especially in terms of their synergized response need not only to be commended, but also further built upon," the statement said.

"It was felt that once the intelligence input had been confirmed, the response time was quick enough, both in terms of decisions that were taken, and in deployment of forces," it added.

The ministers also stressed the need to upgrade both intelligence and preventive abilities, especially in terms of technology, in view of the continuing threat from hostile elements from across the border.

"The need to have a better media communication strategy was also felt. It was decided that in such incidents, media is best briefed by the authorised persons on the spot and arrangements for this, including training, should be put in place to meet such contingencies, should they happen in future," the statement added.

The meeting, attended by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar and senior officials of home and defence ministries, also decided that security audit of all vulnerable stations of the armed forces, para-military forces and police would be carried out within a given time-frame.

IANS