India

PC Briefs Media on Delhi Blast, Slams BJP for Not Maintaining Bipartisanship

BeyondHeadlines Special Correspondent

New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram yesterday told the media that forensic reports indicate that Nitrate has been used in the Delhi High Court blast along with other explosives.

He refuted that different forensic laboratories had sent varying reports on the issue of chemicals used. “It is just that there are various types of Nitrates.”

Regarding the three terror e-mails that came daily starting from the day of the blast, Chidambaram said, “The First mail came on the day of blast that is on September o7, the second mail came on September 8 and the third one came today.

“We have deciphered the code given in the third mail, which indicates that the next strike could be in Ahmedabad.”

He, however added, “The third mail is too amateurish and I doubt if it could be taken seriously. Nonetheless, we have alerted Gujarat government about it.”

We have also reiterated alerts to other states.

Chidambaram emphasised, “In case of Delhi, we need synergy and optimum use of the resources.”

Regarding the blast investigations, Chidambaram said, “There are promising leads in the case and we are sure of making headway very soon.” “The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Delhi Police are investigating the issue. All other agencies are helping them in the investigation,” he added.

“The person who sent the first mail from Kishtwar in Jammu & Kashmir has been taken into custody and he is being interrogated,” Chidambaram revealed.

Asserting the need for the people to be alert, Chidambaram said, “India is too vast a country. People need to be alert. Ordinary people must chip in with inputs and they need to be more vigilant.”

“Cross border terrorism cannot be held responsible for every single terror attack. There are home-grown modules as well. At this point of time we should not jump to conclusion,” the Home Minister said when asked about reports emerging about foreign linkage to the recent Delhi blast.

“I am not ruling out any organisation at this point….. But I can assure you we are doing our best.”

Earlier, Chidambaram came down heavily on the Opposition BJP for holding a press conference to target the government and accused it of lacking in bipartisanship.

Rebuking the BJP, Chidambaram said, “This is the first time when the Leaders of Opposition of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have held a press conference at the end of a parliamentary session to attack the government on the issue of terror. There was a terror attack in December, 2001 when NDA was in power. I don’t recall the Opposition calling a press conference to attack the government.”

He further charged the BJP by saying, “It is not in the DNA of BJP to maintain bipartisanship.”

Refraining from blaming previous governments, the senior Congress leader asserted, “I loathe pointing fingers at anyone, but there has been an accumulated neglect as far as terrorism is concerned.”

Clarifying the controversy over missing CCTV cameras in the Delhi High Court premises, Chidambaram said, “Though people are accusing the government for the lack of CCTV cameras, I tell you it’s a very sad story.”

“The Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) tenders for CCTV cameras were cancelled 3-4 times because they were afraid to take a decision,” he explained.

The veteran leader further added, “The period from end of August to December is the most sensitive as most of the festivals fall in this time only. Also, 9/11 anniversary, 26/11 anniversary and Babri demolition anniversary come during this period.”

Praising the efforts of the security forces, Chidambaram said, “Police are doing their best to control law and order situation in the country along with fighting with the terrorists. But they are also humans. They work for fourteen hours a day without weekly offs for three weeks in a row.”

Lamenting the difficult condition in which the security personnel work, Chidambaram said, “Not only police, but Border Security force (BSF) also work in difficult conditions. They get sleep only in two spells of three hours each.”

“The ITBP personnel live in a cabin of 10 by 15 and come out only after six months. The CRPF was hit by the worst kind of malaria.”

Accepting the rise on terror incidents, Chidambaram said, “I agree that the three major terror attacks since I took over as the Home Minister are a blot but one must understand that we are under constant threat.”

“There have been blots on the other governments also,” he was quick to add.

Defending the Union government, Chidambaram said, “Nobody can accuse the government of not doing enough on terror.”

“I work on two principles. First is sharing the intelligence inputs and second is that every input as actionable until proved right or wrong,” he further added.

“We are trying to build capacity but it will take time. All this can’t be done in one day,” Chidambaram concluded.

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