PATHANKOT: The autopsy of six militants killed in the Pathankot gunbattle was conducted amidst tight security on Thursday.
HT PHOTOA terrorist’s glove entangled in the barbed wire above the boundary wall of the Pathankot airbase.
A team of six doctors, led by Dr Tarsem Singh, district health officer Pathankot civil hospital, conducted the postmortem.
The bodies of four militants — wrapped in polybags —and the mutilated parts of two militants, charred in the blasts, were shifted to the mortuary of the civil hospital on Wednesday night, To rule out the possibility of explosives inside the bodies, a series of scans were conducted before these were sent for autopsy.
Sources said the exercise was conducted to ensure safety of the doctors conducting the autopsy.
Security forces didn’t want to take any chances, especially after NSG’s Lt Col Niranjan EK was killed in a blast during the mopping-up operation at the base.
The panel took the bodies for X-ray examination around 11 am after which the postmortem was conducted. The entire process culminated at 5 pm.
Pathankot senior medical officer Dr Bhupinder Singh claimed the militants seemed to be in the age group of 20 to 30. He said the samples have been sent for DNA analysis and details would be revealed after they receive the reports.
Sources said the autopsy suggested that the militants were been killed four to five days back. The food found in their stomach was in the form of juices.
Chinks in armour despite high alert
Barbed wire broken at several points
LUDHIANA: After the Pathankot terror attack, the Halwara airbase, located about 35km from here, has beefed up security at the main gate, but the walls along residential areas on its premises are far from secure.
SIKANDER SINGH CHOPRA/HTBarbed wire in tatters at the Halwara airbase.
The barbed wire is broken at most of the points on the perimeter walls, making this airbase vulnerable to an attack. The wire needs to be fixed at the earliest.
Even though the security guards at the main gate thoroughly checked vehicles entering the premises on Thursday, there was no security cover along the perimeter walls of the residential complex.
The air force has put up barricades on the main roads outside the airbase to make vehicles slow down.
At this fighter airbase, aircraft such as Sukhoi SU-30 are parked. There is electronic surveillance at the main gate, but not along most of the walls of the airbase. The airbase’s proximity to Halwara village is a source of worry for residents in the likelihood of an attack.
Due to its strategic location, the Halwara airbase was used by the air force during the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan.
Trio of ‘suspects’ proves tough nut to crack for police
MAN HELD ON WEDNESDAY HAS CHANGED NAME THRICE; ANOTHER ‘SUSPECT’ IS KEEPING MUM, WHILE THIRD IS DEAF-MUTE
PATHANKOT: Even as the local police are interrogating three people — all rounded up in suspicious circumstances from in or around the Pathankot airbase — over the past five days, no headway has been made in getting leads.
In fact, the latest suspect, who was pinned down outside the Pathankot airbase on Wednesday night, has been changing his name at frequent intervals, giving a tough time to the investigators.
Initially claiming to be Parmod Gupta from Siliguri, he changed his name to Subhash Kumar on Thursday morning, before finally claiming to be Gaffur Ahmed.
The police are yet to make sense of this mystifying behavior. Another ‘suspect’, Waseem, in his late 20s, who was also rounded up on Wednesday has refused to divulge anything and is proving to be another tough nut to crack. The third one, a deaf-mute who had received two bullet injuries on the first day of the encounter on Saturday, is yet to be identified.
He is recuperating under police protection at the Pathankot civil hospital.
SHO Bharat Bhushan claimed that the police were trying their best to gather some leads from the three ‘suspects’.
In Pathankot, many men —who at first seem to be mentally challenged — are routinely seen roaming near the airbase and other military establishments. Locals have for long been claiming that they could be spies and needed to be arrested and quizzed on their antecedents.
Illegal structures threat to security
AMBALA: Fighter jets such as Jaguars and MiG 21 (Bison) are stationed at this air force station, located along the Chandigarh-Delhi highway. A number of illegal structures have sprung up around the airbase and the population of nearby areas is also growing fast. Along its 10-ft-high boundary wall, topped by barbed wire around 1 ft in height, there are shops, godowns, hotels and houses. At some spots, these establishments share their walls with the airbase periphery.
SANJEEV SHARMA/HTA truck parked near the boundary wall of the Ambala air force station.In several areas around the airbase, such as Majri, Dhulkot, Baldev Nagar and Transport Nagar, a number of structures are within 100 metres of the wall, a violation of the Works of Defence Act, 1903. Recently, some upcoming structures were demolished in King Vihar Colony.
There are watch towers along the walls, guarded by air force personnel; at the main gate, there are CCTV cameras and adequate securitymen. The potential security threat is from overlooking buildings and the highway. On Tuesday, a meeting was held with the police and district administration, where it was recommended to the air force authorities to block the view from these buildings and the highway. It is learnt that a decision was taken to carry out sanitisation of area up to 15km from the airbase.
Commissioner of police, Ambala-Panchkula, OP Singh said: “Army/air force personnel are under orders to move in full uniform and venture out with weapons only in a military vehicle. The assistant commissioner of police (ACP cantonment) has been ordered to check encroachments overlooking the airfield and patrol potential ingress routes extensively.”
Talking to HT, Ambala deputy commissioner Ashok Sangwan said: “Illegal structures have come up around the airbase over the years. The due process of law will be followed regarding them. This issue was discussed at the coordination meeting with the defence authorities on Tuesday. The MC will be asked to take action against illegal structures.”
Unwanted entry points blocked by air force
BATHINDA: The Bhisiana air force station, located about 18km from Bathinda, was in the news recently after leading aircraftsman Ranjith KK was arrested on the charges of espionage.
SANJEEV KUMAR/HTA watch tower without a security guard at the Bhisiana air force station in Bathinda district.
The spying case as well as the Pathankot airbase attack has led to heightened security, right from barricading and multiple checkpoints to round-the-clock surveillance from watch towers.
Spread over an area of more than 1,000 acres, the airbase has a perimeter of about 15km along Bhisiana and Virk Kalan villages, enclosed by a 12-ft-high wall topped by barbed wire.
Sources said the air force authorities had blocked unwanted entry points leading to the airbase.
There are no encroachments near the peripheral wall of the airbase as the district administration had banned construction in notified zones around the Bhisiana air force station in both Bhisiana and Virk Kalan villages two years ago.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Swapan Sharma said the district police were in touch with the air force and army officials to get fresh updates on security arrangements on the premises.
“Patrolling has been intensified in villages adjoining the airbase. Two bunkers have also been set up on the roads leading to the airbase,” Sharma said. However, no police guard was present in the bunkers when the HT team visited the spot.
Operation to fully sanitise airbase in the last leg
PATHANKOT ATTACK Air force officer says combing operation aimed at ensuring that no terrorists are still hiding
The timely and precise intel inputs and positioning of NSG troops in real quick time in a domestic area, where our families reside, ensured that the station was able to organise its defence before the terrorists could strike. JS DHAMOON, Air Officer Commanding
PATHANKOT: The operation to fully sanitise the Pathankot airbase, which was attacked by six terrorists last Saturday, is close to completion, announced Air Officer Commanding, Pathankot Air Force Station JS Dhamoon on Thursday.
“For the past two days, the army, NSG and Garud commandos have been sanitising the whole station and the process is close to completion,” Dhamoon told mediapersons here.
“As the area of the base is very large, it takes time to sanitise every suspected part. The combing operation is aimed at ensuring that no terrorists are still hiding and there are no booby traps,” he added.
Dhamoon said there was synergy between air force, army, NSG, Punjab police and intelligence agencies.
“The timely and precise intelligence inputs and positioning of NSG troops in real quick time in domestic area, where our families reside, ensured that the station was able to organise its defence before the terrorists could strike,” he said.
EFFECTIVE USE OF AIR ASSETS
Also, the effective use of air assets was made possible by the deployment of 800 army troops in technical area. “These air assets were used to keep the area under surveillance to ensure early detection isolation and subsequent engagement of our own troops,” Dhamoon said.
He said the quick response ensured that the terrorists were confined to an area where they could successfully be eliminated without causing further loss to troops. “All this ensured that our vital assets and families were never threatened.
Dhamoon, however, refused to reply to a query on breaches in the airbase and how militants gained access to the highly secured area.
Vulnerable, located too close to thickly-populated settlements
CHANDIGARH: The boundary wall of the Chandigarh air force station is surrounded by thickly-populated villages and slums. Human settlements have reached so close to the airbase periphery that a security scare is not ruled out.
KARUN SHARMA/HTA house located precariously close to the boundary wall of the Chandigarh airbase.As per regulations in the Works of Defence Act, no dwelling unit or permanent structure should come up within 100 metres of the airbase wall. The police and civil administration of SAS Nagar district and Chandigarh seem to have failed in checking rampant construction in the area.
The airbase is used to transport personnel, material and military equipment to forward locations, particularly Leh and Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. Recently, an airport has come up adjacent to the airbase and there is a common runway for defence and civil flights. Before domestic flights take off, planes pass through the defence area at a slow pace, giving passengers a clear view of the airbase and its important assets.
There are a number of points along the boundary wall from where residents of adjoining villages of Jagatpura and Kandala can track the activity of men and machinery inside the airbase.
Gurjeet Singh, who works in a dairy farm near the periphery wall, told HT, “We see security personnel along the wall only when a VIP lands here. Then the entire perimeter is cordoned off; otherwise, it is a free-for-all.”
He points towards a herd of goats moving close to the wall, led by a shepherd.
On the security arrangements inside and outside the airbase, Group Capt SK Bisht said, “Everything is in place, but I can’t reveal what steps are being taken to beef up security.”
According to airbase sources, there is electronic surveillance on the premises, but it is not clear how many of the CCTV cameras are functional.
‘Fortress-like’ strategic facility
ADAMPUR (JALANDHAR): Around 100km from the India-Pakistan border and less than 250km from the Chinese border on the eastern side, the airbase at Adampur, near Jalandhar, is virtually like a fortress.
HT PHOTO■ A man moving along the wall of the Adampur airbase.The strategic facility—housing squadrons of frontline fighter MiG 29 — has a 30-km boundary that is protected by a thick 12-ft high cemented wall with 3-foot fencing on it.
The wall is closely guarded with ‘machaans’ (watch towers) every 50 metres.
After the Pathankot attack, patrolling along the wall has been intensified. Unlike Pathankot, where the base shares boundary with a thickly-populated areas, the Adampur airbase has fields adjoining its wall.
“Air force officials have asked for extra force to guard some strategic points and we have set up special nakas,” said Jalandhar SSP (Rural) Harmohan Singh Sandhu.
A survey revealed that there is hardly any gap in the security wall.
However, an increasing number of Gujjar dwellings near the airbase is a worrying factor.
A retired senior army said the Gujjars had constructed illegal houses in Manko, Drauli Kalan, Damunda, Kandola and Masanian villages that lie close to the airbase.
“Over the years, Gujjar deras have also come up here. Their number is increasing by the day and we can’t take it lightly. However, the local police have failed to check their activities,” he said.