Hijack threat -- Airlines were alerted in Aug

Hijack threat -- Airlines were alerted in Aug
SANJIV SINHA

NEW DELHI, DEC 28: A confidential report by security agencies specifically warning of danger of hijacking of Indian aircraft was circulated to all domestic airlines, including private operators, way back in August this year.But the recent hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane shows that the warning fell on deaf ears.

Sources said that the warning circular came in August this year, following Kargil episode and threats issued against India by wanted international terrorist Osama bin Laden.

The circular, routed through the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), was issued to different airlines, including Indian Airlines, asking them to maintain extra-vigil while screening passengers before taking them on board.

The circular had asked the authorities at all the international airports in the country and those in the neighbouring countries where Indian carriers operated to be particularly vigilant to the possibility of hijacking, especially from Kashmir militants. Kathmandu, Srinagar, Amritsar, Delhi,Lucknow and Varanasi were among the airports highlighted in the circular as particularly vulnerable to terrorist action.

Sources in the BCAS which is the nodal authority in charge of security at all Indian airports confirmed that a warning had been sounded to all airlines to ask their staff to be extra-alert.

However, threat perceptions apart, nothing substantial was done at the ground-level to enhance the security of the aircraft, particularly those of the Indian Airlines (IA) which undertake regular flights to the capitals of all neighbouring countries.

For instance, the IndianAirline's security staff at Kathmandu, long known to be a transit point for militants of all kinds shuttling between India and Pakistan, was not upgraded by even a single extra-personnel since the warning came in. ``It (the warning) was obviously dismissed as routine, the kind which keeps coming from the IB and RAW every now and then, particularly after a particular episode,'' says a BCAS official in retrospect. Among theKashmiri groups, the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had made maximum use of Nepal as a sanctuary. It was followed by all other militants groups in J &K.