On the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament Terror Attack, a major security breach took place on Wednesday during the zero hour when two men, Sagar Sharma from Lucknow and Manoranjan D. from Mysuru jumped from the public gallery into the chamber, carrying gas canisters. They were immediately caught by MPs, before they were handed over to the security personnel, and the House was adjourned till 2 pm.
The incident happened just hours after that the leaders and the lawmakers paid tribute to those who died during the 2001 Parliament attack. Minutes later, two others, Neelam Azad from Haryana and Amol Shinde from Maharashtra were also arrested from a spot near the Parliament House, where these two had opened smoke canisters.
Reportedly the attack comes in the aftermath of Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu’s repeated threats of attacking the Bharatiya Parliament on or before Dec 13. Interestingly, hours after the Parliamentary attack, Pannun also announced a Rs. 10 lakh legal aid for the four accused persons. A poster was released by the banned terror outfit SFJ, of which Pannun is the leader. In the poster, Pannun can be seen standing with a photo of Wednesday’s Parliament attack, announcing the reward for the accused people.
It is possible that Sikh Separatist and terrorist Pannun could be behind Wednesday’s attack on Parliament. Although, as of now, no connection has been established between the accused person and the threat issued by Pannun earlier this month.
Notably, when the duo released smoke inside the Lok Sabha, they chanted slogans like “Jai Bhim”. The police sources have revealed that all the accused have been associated with the social media page- “Bhagat Singh Fan Club”.
When the proceedings resumed in the Lower House of the Parliament at 4pm, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced that due to the seriousness of the incident, a high level probe will be conducted, after which relevant actions will be taken. He also announced a ban on visitor passes.
Meanwhile, late on Wednesday, spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs, in a post on microblogging platform, X, stated that MHA has ordered an inquiry into the Parliament security breach incident.
An Inquiry Committee has been set up under Shri Anish Dayal Singh, Directorate General Central Reserve Police Force, along with members of other security agencies and experts. The committee will investigate the reasons for breach, identify lapses, and recommend further action to be taken.
Many netizens have also connected the dots between Pannun’s threat and the incident of the Parliament attack, urging to probe the possible sikh extremist angle in the case.
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