Punjab attack eerily similar to Jammu attacks: Omar Abdullah

The terrorist attack in Punjab is “eerily similar” to attacks in the border belt of Jammu, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted on Monday.

Even as security forces battled the terrorists who are holed up in a police station, Abdullah took Twitter and wrote, “Will be very interested to see what emerges about the identity of the terrorists involved in the Gurdaspur attack this morning.”

“The timing of the attack, methodology and location are all eerily similar to attacks in the border belt of Jammu,” said Abdullah in another tweet.

Four heavily armed terrorists wearing army uniform on Monday went on a rampage attacking a bus and a police station complex, leaving five persons, including a policeman, dead and several injured in Punjab's Gurdaspur district bordering Pakistan.

As of now, no terror group has taken responsibility for the attack.

Earlier in March, a fidayeen squad of terrorists disguised as army personnel stormed a police station in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, killing three security personnel and leaving 11 others, including a deputy superintendent of police injured.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh has spoken to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and discussed the situation. Rajnath Singh has also asked security to ‘step up vigil on 'Indo-Pak border’.

Gurdaspur terror attack rocks Parliament

The attack in Gurdaspur resonated in Lok Sabha on Monday with members cutting across party lines condemning it and saying that the incident demonstrated that the terror threat to India is “perceptible” and that all force should be used to fight the scourge.

Members of Akali Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist and Biju Janata Dal spoke on Monday’s attack during the Zero Hour amidst the din created by members of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Left, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal-United and Telangana Rashtra Samithi over various issues.

Prem Singh Chandumajra of Akali Dal, who hails from Punjab, raised the issue of the attack, in which four heavily armed terrorists went on a rampage on Monday morning, targeting a bus and a police station complex, leaving a number of policemen and civilians dead and injured.

He urged the slogan-shouting opposition members to halt their protest in view of the attack as it is in the national interest.

“I appeal to you, in the national interest, halt your protest for two minutes as there has been an attack in Gurdaspur,” he told the Congress members who were in the Well shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government.

“This is a question of the country’s security. People are dying... People of the state are watching. They are watching this drama (in the House),” the Akali member said.

BJD member Tathagat Sathpathy said the incident in Gurdaspur was a “grave matter”, which shows that “once again terrorism is back with full force. It is not only display of Islamic State flags, the threat of terrorism is perceptible here. The threat is right here in the country.”

He said all political parties should unite against the fight against terrorism.

“We are not here to politicise... Strictest action should be taken. All force should be used. India should stand up to fight terrorism,” the BJD member from Odisha said.

Mohd Saleem of CPI-M said the “terror attack in Gurdaspur is condemnable”.

At the same time, he questioned the “resurgence” of terrorism while observing that “the kind of politics in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir” is responsible for it.

‘Punjab again under terrorist threat’

Claiming that Punjab is once again under terrorist threat, state Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa said Monday’s terror attack in Gurdaspur district should serve as a wake-up call for both the Centre and the state governments.

“The state already has a history of terrorism. Punjab has passed through the dark days earlier. Today’s incident is very serious. Punjab once again is under terrorist threat, for sure. The governments at the Centre and in the state will have to take a very serious view of this,” Bajwa said.

The former Gurdaspur MP claimed that the “Khalistani elements are again trying to regroup”.

-- With inputs from PTI