Defence Minister admits lapses in Uri

New Delhi, September 21: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday admitted that “something must have been wrong” because of which the Uri terror attack took place, and added that if required India is capable of “knee jerk reaction”. The minister, however, did not speak about the nature of reaction and added that the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a call on it. He stressed that the government “is very serious” about it. “Something must have been wrong... Though I will not go into details of it because it is a very sensitive matter. When something goes wrong while you try to correct it you should also ensure that it does not happen again,” Parrikar said at an event here. “I will not go into the details of what we are going to do. But if required I can have a knee-jerk reaction also. Sometimes a knee-jerk reaction is also required,” the minister said without elaborating. “This country is a very responsible power that does not mean I will sleep over this kind of terrorism that is being pushed across the border. How I do it, is entirely for the government and Prime Minister to decide,” said Parrikar. “We will take a proper reading of everything,” he said.Parrikar also quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saying those behind the Uri terror attack will be punished and said: “We will look into how to punish. We are quite serious about it.” Eighteen soldiers died in the terror attack on an army camp in Uri, in Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday. Four terrorists who attacked the camp were also killed. The terrorists were said to be carrying food and medicine packets with Pakistani markings, and Director General of Military Operations Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh has spoken to his Pakistani counterpart expressing concern over the incident. Kashmir activist slapped with law for jailing without trial Authorities on Wednesday booked a prominent Kashmir human rights activist under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) that allows jailing a person without trial for two years on a mere suspicion. A government official here said Khurram Parvez, detained by the state police last week from his Sonwar residence, is likely to be shifted to a Jammu jail after the PSA was slapped against him. Parvez was released from the detention after a court order on Tuesday, but was rearrested immediately. The PSA is an administrative detention law that allows for people to be arrested without charge or trial. Activists have been demanding revocation of such laws in the restive state because they believe that these have often been used to hold individuals in arbitrary detention on vague grounds for long periods of time, ignoring regular criminal justice safeguards. Rights group Amnesty International condemned the arrest. “Detaining a person right after he is released, without any intention to charge him or bring him to trial, amounts to using a revolving door of persecution,” said Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India. “This kind of arbitrary use of the law suggests that the Jammu and Kashmir police are determined to lock up Khurram Parvez at any cost.” Parvez, 39, is the programme coordinator with the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). He has been an active rights activist for nearly 15 years in the state. He is also the chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) -- a Manila-based conglomerate of rights groups. Earlier before his arrest on September 16, the activist was stopped at the Delhi airport from boarding a flight to Geneva where he was to the attend a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). According to JKCCS, Parvez had planned to submit a report to the rights council on the situation in the Kashmir Valley, which has seen nearly 90 deaths in over two months of civilian unrest, triggered by the July 8 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.