Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister J.P. Nadda leave after an all-party meeting in New Delhi on April 24, 2025. | Photo Credit: PTI
An all-party meeting held on Thursday in the wake of the Pahalgam terrorist attack unanimously promised support to the Centre in its war against terrorism, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said. There was no police permission for tourists to visit the Baisaran meadow, where the incident that claimed 26 lives on Tuesday occurred, officials told the meeting. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chaired the meeting that lasted for more than two hours.
Mr. Rijiju said the Defence Minister detailed the decisions taken by the government following the terror attack. “IB and Home Ministry officials briefed the all-party meeting on how the incident took place and where the lapses occurred,” Mr. Rijiju said. He added that the meadow was away from the main road and was accessible only by foot or pony. “It takes two to two-and-a-half hours to reach there,” he said.
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According to Opposition sources, Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed the meeting that the meadow was opened to tourists without police permission, and in two days, more than 1,000 people had visited.
He said while there was no security presence at Baisaran on the day of the incident, 500 security personnel were present in Pahalgam on the day and that it took around 45 minutes to trek to the spot.
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The Minister also stated that they could not trace any communication signal within a radius of 50 km of Baisaran for at least five days before the attack. The terrorists did not use any communication device, the Minister is said to have informed the parliamentarians.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi reportedly remarked that it was a “glaring security failure” and it was astonishing that thousands of people were roaming in an area without the knowledge of the police. He is learnt to have said that it was sheer luck that more people were not killed.
Objecting to statistics comparing the casualties and terror attacks during the NDA and Congress-led UPA regimes, given in the presentation by the Home Ministry, Mr. Gandhi reportedly said that instead of admitting that there was a dramatic security failure the government gave a long lecture on its achievements in the past 10 years and plans for the next 10 years. He said that if the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was using new tactics, using American weapons, using different ammunition coming from Afghanistan, then what was the preparedness of the security forces.
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According to sources, BJP ally Telugu Desam Party, which was represented by Lok Sabha MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, asked if by putting the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, the government was setting a precedent.
“Do we have a contingency plan, if China takes a similar measure on Brahmaputra,” Mr. Devarayalu reportedly asked.
AlMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who was invited only after he protested against the exclusion of parties with less than five MPs, as per sources, asked why the response from the security personnel was delayed. He also asked whether the CRPF unit posted there was removed. To this, Mr. Shah explained that the terrain of the meadow is such that it is accessible by foot or on a pony and it is away from the main road, taking security personnel 45 minutes to reach the spot.
Published – April 24, 2025 11:07 pm IST
