India deserves to know who is behind intelligence failures, says Akhilesh Yadav

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and Lok Sabha MP Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday demanded answers from the Centre regarding the security lapse during the Pahalgam terror attack and questioned who would be responsible for the intelligence failure.

Speaking during the Operation Sindoor debate in the Lok Sabha, Yadav said that the country deserves to know who is behind the intelligence failure that led to major terror attacks, including Pulwama and Pahalgam.

“It is unfortunate that even after several years of Independence, such matters (terrorism) concern us. This is not about the ruling and the Opposition but about the security of the country. Why don’t we make a strategy to secure our borders once and for all? However, the Pahalgam incident has proved that negligence can claim innocent lives,” he said.

Taking a jab at the ruling party, the SP chief said, “They are speaking in an energetic manner so that the public believes them. However, no matter how energetically you speak, the public knows everything. The government is taking advantage of the public’s emotion.”

Questioning the security lapse, he said, “When the Pahalgam attack happened, everyone was asking why no one was there to protect them from danger. The government claimed that there would be no terrorist incidents after the abrogation of Article 370 and that tourism would flourish; people believed the government and went there (Kashmir). The biggest question is — who will take responsibility for the security lapse? The Pahalgam attack happened because of our intelligence failure.”

He demanded that the Centre should mention what steps have been taken by the government to prevent terrorist attacks in future.

“Because before Pahalgam, Pulwama happened, and even there was an intelligence failure, no one knows who was responsible for that. But the country deserves to know who is behind these intelligence failures,” he said, while also demanding that the “government reveal the total area of India”.

The SP chief also took an aim at the government for the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan and questioned why the Centre agreed to it when there was a possible chance to take Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) back.

“We thought that this time, we could have taught Pakistan a lesson. A section of media also made us believe that we had captured Lahore, Karachi and even that we had captured several people there. We thought that we would be able to get PoK back. I often see the government’s engine clashing sometimes, but I know that when it comes to PoK, all are in the same direction,” he said.

Pointing out to US President Donald Trump’s assertions for the ceasefire agreement (a claim that India has repeatedly rejected), Yadav said, “Why did the government step back and why was a ceasefire announced? We were hoping the government itself would have announced it. But since they have deep friendships, the government asked their friend to announce the ceasefire. Under what pressure was the ceasefire announced?”

IANS