Mann demands Modi too be summoned by Lok Sabha panel

AAP parliamentarian Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also be summoned before a panel set up to probe the alleged breach of Parliament security, saying the decision to allow Pakistani ISI officers into the Pathankot air base was a breach of national security.

In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Mann asked if the Modi government's decision to allow Inter Services Intelligence officers to visit the Pathankot airbase "had not posed danger to the country's security".

Mann had on Monday sought three days' time to appear before the nine-member panel set up by the Speaker to probe his alleged breach of Parliament security.

The committee will inquire into the security implications and related aspects arising out of Mann posting on social media an audio-visual recording of his entry into Parliament House and going past the security pickets.

In his letter to the Speaker on Tuesday, Mann said the panel will probe if the video he had made posed any threat to Parliament security.

"In 2001 ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) attacked Parliament. In 2016 the same ISI carried out an attack on Pathankot airbase. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited ISI at Pathankot airbase," Mann alleged, referring to the visit of the Pakistani team in March this year to probe the January 2 terror attack.

Mann alleged that ISI had made maps of the key air base during its visit. The government has said the Pakistani team was not given access to the operational area of the base but only to the isolated "crime scene".

India blamed the Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad for the attack and shared information with Pakistan.

Mann, in his letter, urged the Speaker to expand the terms of reference of the probe panel.

"Prime Minister should also be summoned. If I am guilty, the Prime Minister is 100 times more guilty," Mann said.

--IANS

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