Six heavily armed terrorists from Pakistan stormed the airbase on January 2 and the ensuing encounter went on for four days before the terrorists were killed while seven soldiers lost their lives. This raised questions on how terrorists could breach such heavily guarded strategically located military bases.

“A specific team is being made. Maybe in another week’s time it will be active. It will visit [the bases] and look into priorities like the risk factor, sensitivity and assets. It will also talk to the local commanders,” Mr. Parrikar told the media after visiting the Republic Day camp of the National Cadet Corps (NCC).

In addition, he said commanding officers of all military bases had been asked to conduct a thorough security assessment and plug loopholes.

Responding to a question on his earlier comment of “losing patience,” Mr. Parrikar said security measures being taken could not be discussed in the open. “Losing patience does not mean that you react instinctively. It means we are increasing our pro-active strength. It cannot be discussed in public.”

Mr. Parrikar condemned the attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan. The attack on the university in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on January 20 left at least 21 people dead and over 50 injured and was claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “Any attack or violence on civilians should be condemned. To kill a human being in a violent way can never be justified. It is a sad thing,” he said.

Production of Tejas

Mr. Parrikar said full-scale production of the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas would begin next year and several countries had expressed interest in the aircraft.

“As per my primary report, it is appreciated by other countries who are interested ... By next year, we are starting full-scale production,” he said. The Defence Research Development Organisation, which developed the aircraft, is hoping to market the aircraft globally as Tejas made its international debut at the ongoing Bahrain International Airshow. The development of Tejas, a single engine, multi-role supersonic fighter, began in the 1980s to replace the MiG-21s in service but has been delayed due to a series of technological hurdles.  The ABVP leader from the University of Hyderabad, N. Susheel Kumar, who has been accused of abetting the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, on Thursday demanded a fair inquiry into the reason for the death.

At a press conference here, Mr. Susheel Kumar said Rohith was not a weak person to have lost his heart at suspension, and said there could have been “personal and particular” reasons.

He questioned how Rohith’s fellow scholars failed to identify suicidal tendencies despite keeping him company for 15 days.

Reasserting his claim of having been attacked by Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA) members, Mr. Susheel Kumar said he was forced by a mob of 40 students to write an apology and upload it on Facebook. It was in breach of his freedom of expression, he said.

“After that, I deactivated my account, and called my brother to come and take me to hospital. Noticing that I had deactivated my account, about 40 people from the ASA tried to mob me again,” he said and charged them with abusing his mother and trying to attack her inside the Vice-Chancellor’s office.

The two-page hospital summary, of which he produced a page, spoke of “blunt trauma to abdomen” with appendicitis, and a contusion on the left shoulder, which he admitted to have sustained when ASA members forced him out of the university’s security vehicle. Though two guards were present at the scene controlling the mob, they could not notice him being beaten up, he said.

Mr. Susheel Kumar could still produce “eyewitnesses” before the Proctorial Board whose credentials he refused to mention except that they were not from the ABVP. While he produced the footage of his mother’s visit to the V-C’s office before the media, there was no evidence of any attack or abuse therein.

The ABVP demanded a CBI enquiry and analysis of the phone data of the other four students whose hand they suspected in the suicide, and “40 professors,” who allegedly instigated “anti-national” activities within the campus.

Prominently naming academics Kancha Ilaiah and G. Haragopal, apart from Vara Vara Rao from the Revolutionary Writers’ Association (ViRaSam), an ABVP spokesperson charged them with “misguiding” the students and “thrusting guns into their hands instead of pens”.

Mr. Susheel Kumar and the ABVP criticised the visits by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury as attempts to politicise an unfortunate death on the campus.