Pathankot attack: Handling terrorists not the job of NSA, says Rahul Gandhi

Targeting the Modi government over its response to the Pathankot terror attack, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said it was "mishandled" and stressed that the national security adviser(NSA)'s job is to formulate strategy and not tactics.

"The best experts on dealing with terrorism, foreign policy are not being consulted. NSA is dealing (with the attack) directly. His job is strategy, not tactics which is the job of NSG. When you let people who don't know what to do, do it, you get into a problem," the Congress vice-president said criticising national security adviser Ajit Doval.

Interacting with students at a management institute here, Gandhi said the then UPA government had "completely marginalised" Pakistan during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks but the present government handled the attack in an "ad hoc way".

"You can't totally prevent terror attacks but you can react in the right way. The main issue is how do we respond. During the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the then UPA government consulted all senior people. We completely marginalised Pakistan. Now, the way it is being handled is ad hoc," he said, adding, "We ensured peace in Kashmir".

The Congress leader also charged that there was massive centralisation of power.

"The biggest problem India is facing today is massive centralisation of power. Everything is being done by three or four or five-six people. You can't solve problems by centralising power," he said.

--PTI