Union home minister Rajnath Singh’s public admission that he had no information on the proposed visit by Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team to Pathankot may embarrass the centre’s BJP-led government..
He told media persons, “I have also heard through media that they (JIT) are planning to visit Pathankot.”
This came in sharp contrast to the statement made by the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who confirmed the date for the JIT’s visit to India.
In a statement to the media following the meeting with Sartaj Aziz in Nepal, Swaraj had said that the Pakistani joint investigation team established to probe the Pathankot terror attack will reach India on March 27 and begin work the following day.
According to Sushma, the JIT was scheduled to arrive in India on 27 March.
Critics say that this was shining example of utter lack of coordination between two key ministries in the Narendra Modi government.
Given that the Pathankot attack had posed a serious national threat, such confusion between two key ministries may not augur well in future plans to secure India’s security.
This is not the first time, Singh has been caught making embarrassing statement reflective of his ignorance about matters relating to his own ministry and the security of the country.
In January, during the Pathankot attack, Singh had announced that the operation was over hours before the armed forces officers involved in the anti-terror operation publicly contradicting him.
