Congress president Rahul Gandhi will set up a task force on national security to prepare a vision paper for the country in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.
Lt Gen. D.S. Hooda (retd) will lead the Task Force and prepare the paper in consultation with a select group of experts, said a release issued by AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal.
Gen. Hooda was the General Officer Commander-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Northern Command of the Indian Army. He was the Northern Army Commander during the surgical strike against the terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in 2016.
Gen. Hooda later told a TV channel that the task force would be a mixture of experts including former diplomats, former military personnel and also those who have served in the police in Maoist areas.
The Congress move comes at a time when the Pulwama attack is being dragged into the election campaign both by the BJP and the opposition party.
“The sacrifice of the CRPF personnel won’t go in vain as it’s not the Congress government which is at the Centre, it is the BJP which is at the Centre,” BJP chief Amit Shah had said earlier. Hitting back at him, the Congress on Thursday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval over the grave intelligence failure.
Forty CRFP personnel were killed after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on February 14.