Punjab govt denies Brar's charge on security downgrading

Punjab government on Wednesday night denied the charge by Lt Gen (Retd) K S Brar that the state government had downgraded his security from Z to Y category.

"It is absolute false and factually incorrect," Harcharan Bains, Advisor on National Affairs and Media to the chief minister said referring to the reported claim of Brar.

Bains said the threat perception is categorised as Z or Y by the government of India and the state government has nothing to do with this.

"The Punjab home department assesses the threat perception of the state's politicians and other important functionaries," he added.

Referring to the attack on Brar in London, Bains said "it was for the government of India to coordinate with the security agencies in the UK about the presence of a person with such high-level of security threat perception as Gen Brar."

"It is clear that neither the central security agencies nor the Indian High Commission in London had informed the London Police about his (Brar's) presence or about the need for security to him," Bains said adding it is for the army authorities or the Union Home Department to coordinate on such sensitive issue", he said.

Bains said the "failure" of the Centre in this regard should be thoroughly probed and responsibility fixed.

The advisor said "we are surprised that even a former chief minister of Punjab like Amarinder Singh should pretend not to know that the this issue (providing security or information to London Police about Brar) pertains to a security lapse by the government of India and it has nothing to do with Punjab government."