Explosives found in Uttar Pradesh Assembly during House Session has sent shockwaves across the nation. The serious security lapse has been condemned by Opposition and the BJP government alike. But the scale of the error can be fully realised in view of the Intelligence Bureau's recent alert on a similar attack in UP and Madhya Pradesh.
In April, IB had, sent out a terror alert saying that Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI is planning to attack several points in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. For the purpose, the agency was training terrorists in Hindu rituals, so that they can dress up as Sadhus and avert detection by security agencies in India, alert said.
ISI has christened the plan as 'Operation Krishna India'.
According to the alert, Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba was colluding with ISI to target religious points during the festive season. The ISI has activated modules of the SIMI in MP to carry out the job, the alert also states. The areas that are under the radar of these terrorists in disguise are Agra, Mathura, Ayodhya and Varanasi. The instruction is to target crowded areas where the number of pilgrims is high.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also on the target list of terrorists.
Following the alert, security was tightened at several locations. However, an attempt to blast UP Assembly does raise questions over the preparedness of the security agencies, despite the alert.