No country has 100% foolproof intelligence: Tharoor
Even as Tharoor acknowledged failures his position, in many ways, is different from the Congress and its top leadership
New Delhi: Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor said on Sunday that no country can ever have a 100 foolproof intelligence and stressed that intelligence failure should not be the main focus right now.
Citing the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Tharoor said, “Obviously, there was no foolproof intelligence. There was some failure. But we have got the example of Israel, the world’s best intelligence services according to everybody, which were taken by surprise just two years ago. Just as Israel is waiting till the end of the war before they demand accountability, similarly, I think we should see the present crisis through and then demand accountability from the government.”
“No country can ever have a foolproof 100% intelligence. We will never know about the various terror attacks that were successfully thwarted. We only get to know about the ones that we failed to thwart. This is normal in any nation. There were failures, I agree, but that should not be our main focus right now,” Tharoor added.
Even as Tharoor acknowledged failures his position, in many ways, is different from the Congress party and its top leadership. The Congress party has announced its support for the government’s decisions but raised questions about the security lapse.
On April 24, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who attended an all-party meeting after the Pahalgam terror attack, has said, “How did the security lapse happen despite three-tier security?... This is a security lapse and the government did not act promptly in response to the terror attack... We will support the government’s decision in the nation’s best interest. We condemn this incident...We want to send a message that the nation is united...”
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), which also met on April 24, said in its resolution: “Pahalgam is known to be a heavily guarded area, secured by a three-tier security arrangement. It is imperative that a comprehensive analysis is conducted into the intelligence failures and security lapses that enabled such an attack in a Union Territory — an area directly under the purview of the Union Home Ministry. These questions must be raised in the larger public interest. This is the only way justice can truly be seen to be served for the families whose lives have been so brutally devastated.”
In the past few months, Tharoor’s statements on strategic and international affairs had sometimes been different to the Congress’ political line of attack against the Narendra Modi government. while the Congress attacked the government over deportation of Indians from the US, Tharoor pointed out that it was an US policy.
