NEW DELHI: Air Commodore J S Dhamoon , who was the commander of the frontline Pathankot airbase when it was stormed by Jaish-e-Muhammed terrorists in January last year, has resigned after an IAF inquiry allegedly indicted him and others for failure of command and control as well as several security lapses during the attack.The government had asked a reluctant IAF to conduct a proper court of inquiry (COI) into the January 2 terror attack, during which the security forces had taken almost three days to kill the four heavily-armed terrorists while losing seven of their own personnel, to pinpoint lapses by different officers in the forward airbase near the border with Pakistan.The National Investigation Agency, of course, conducted the overall probe into the terror attack, which had come soon after PM Narendra Modi made an unscheduled trip to Lahore to attend the wedding of Nawaz Sharif's granddaughter as a goodwill gesture in December 2015. The CoI (usually followed by summary of evidence and court martial in military legal procedures) report is under the process of finalization (being approved by higher authorities). "A top tri-Service committee constituted after the Pathankot attack , under former Army vice chief Lt-General Philip Campose (retd), had punched several holes in the existing security set-up of most military bases around the country, as was earlier reported by TOI.The committee had recommended several measures, ranging from installation of modern "access-control, perimeter security-cum-intrusion detection systems" to providing new weapons, bullet-proof jackets and night-vision jackets to personnel guarding the bases.But the government is yet to get fully cracking on the recommendations. The IAF, on its part, has finalized an over Rs 8,000-crore comprehensive security plan for 54 of its major airbases around the country. The IAF is also raising 12 additional "flights" of Garud Special Forces to supplement the existing 15 "flights" of around 900 commandos.

Source: Times of India June 20, 2017 15:46 UTC