There have been 99 attacks by militants on the Army in Jammu and Kashmir and 32 in the Northeast since 2016, the government said on Wednesday.
In written response to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister ofState for Defence Shripad Naik said there were 19 incidents of attacks on theArmy by militants in 2016, 23 in 2017, 54 in 2018 and 13 until July 7, 2019.
In the Northeast, the Army reported six such cases in 2016,10 in 2017, 11 in 2018 and five until July 2019.
“One incident of a militant attack on the Air Forcetook place on the intervening night of January 1-2, 2016 at Air Force StationPathankot. No Indian naval ship or establishment has been attacked during thelast three years,” he said.
All such incidents are enquired into and the Ministry ofDefence constituted a committee under Lt Gen (Retd.) Philip Campose to lookinto the incident at the Air Force Station Pathankot and to recommend remedialmeasures to strengthen security of various military establishments across thecountry, Naik said.
“Based on the Committee’s recommendations, variousmeasures including strengthening of physical security through layered defenceand perimeter security, deployment of Quick Reaction Teams, use of airborneplatforms for security of defence installations have been instituted.Periodical review of the security arrangements based on threat assessment todevise suitable measures are adopted to counter such threats,” he said.
In response to a question on the strength of pilots in theIndian Air Force, Naik said the available strength is sufficient to meet thecurrent operational requirements.
Replying to another question, Naik said 8,39,338.437 acresof land was acquired by the Ministry of Defence after Independence. Of this,3,73,044.759 acres of land was acquired alone in Rajasthan, while there hasbeen no acquisition of land in Mizoram.
In response to another question on a fire during theconstruction of a warship, he said the incident took place on board Yard 12704at Deck 30 on June 21 when tank cleaning was being carried out by acontractor’s worker using a portable electric grinding machine for cleaning.
One casualty was reported, he said.”A committee has been constituted toinvestigate the cause of fire. Preliminary investigations indicate that thefire might have been caused due to short-circuit in the contractor’s portableelectric grinding machine that was being used for tank cleaning work,” hesaid.