NEW DELHI: Khalistan extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun just days back vowed to disrupt the parliament session on December 13, 2023, in New Delhi. The government played it down, not cranking up the security apparatus. True to Pannun’s vile threats, the Indian parliament was disrupted with smoke canisters on Wednesday, December 13, 2023. The date also jarringly clashed with the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 parliament attack.

On December 13, 2001, during the winter session, five terrorists trespassed the parliament territory, duping the security officials with fake stickers of the home department on the car in which they were travelling. It was the deadly Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, terrorist organizations behind the crime. However, one timely interruption from a police official prevented the attack from entering the parliament building. The officials confronted the group and without spending much time, they fired from close range at the security personnel.

There were more than 100 MPs in the parliament at that time. Five terrorists, eight security personnel and a parliament gardener, were killed in the half-hour-long gunfight. Subsequent investigations revealed that the attack was a joint plan by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. All of the five terrorists were Pakistan nationals. Later, the main mastermind of the attack and the leader of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, Afzal Guru, Shaukat Hussain, his wife Afsan Guru and SAR Geelani were arrested. Pannun’s latest video also had a poster of Afzal Guru in the background which he paid homage to.

Today’s incident inside the parliament chambers should serve as a wake-up call for the officials to not play down threats from abroad. Pannun for some long have taken this business of threats against India with pride. The speaker expressed his shock while the Opposition took this opportunity to lament the fall of security officials. The ideology and the intentions of the intruders who disrupted the parliament session should be brought into the open, immediately.