Sovereignty Under Siege continues....

Three agencies, namely, the Delhi Police, the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and the Watch and Ward staff look after the security of the Parliament House. The outer cordon is the responsibility of the CRPF, the inner cordon of the Delhi Police and the isolation cordon (inside the building) of the Watch and Ward staff.

It was a pleasant morning in Delhi on 13 December 2001. The winter sun was out but shone feebly. For most citizens of the city and their elected representatives it seemed like the perfect winter morning. Given an option, they would have preferred to sit out on the lush green lawns of any one of the city’s splendorous gardens, munching peanuts or reading a newspaper and soaking in the sun. But the languorous mood was soon to change.

Both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha had adjourned at 11 a.m., though many parliamentarians and a few ministers, including the home minister, were still inside the Parliament House. Forty minutes later, five heavily armed terrorists in a white Ambassador—most official cars then were of the same make and colour—displaying stickers of the home ministry and Lok Sabha on its windscreen, entered the Parliament House complex through one of the iron gates opening on to Sansad Marg to the north. The security staff deployed at the entry point was either lax or was taken in by the stickers that were displayed and failed to intercept the vehicle. Truth be told, nobody had anticipated such an attack, and therefore the premises lacked security overlays (such as bollards, boom barriers, etc.) and the security deployment that exists today, after the incident. ‘It is easy to be wise after the event,’ said Arthur Conan Doyle. Today, the Parliament House is a veritable fortress, but alas, it was not so that December morning.

To be continued………..