Post-hijack -- NSG men escorts flights, taken off VVIP duties

Post-hijack -- NSG men escorts flights, taken off VVIP duties
SWATI CHATURVEDI

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 3: Commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) have been travelling incognito on all Indian Airlines (IA) and Air India (AI) flights originating in the country since January 1. To implement this, the NSG has been asked by Home Minister L K Advani to withdraw its men from VVIP security duties except in three cases. The decision has the approval of the Union Cabinet.

The number of commandos deployed for the past three days has been guided by what is officially being described as the ``variant'' duration of the flight and size of the aircraft. So the IA flights to Karachi have had four commandos dressed in ``inconspicuous plain clothes.'' Similarly, the IA flights to Colombo also had three NSG commandos on board. A-I flights to the United States and United Kingdom have teams of commandos on board. Later the use of commandos will be restricted to ``sensitive'' sectors only.

Pakistan Airlines and Israel's El-Al already have in-flight security personnel. A similar suggestion had been madein India after the spate of hijackings in 1993 but the Ministry of Civil Aviation blocked it on the ground that the cost of implementing such a plan would be prohibitive.

The Government has decided to do away with the NSG's black uniform on board since the idea is to provide an ``unobtrusive presence''. The NSG commandos are dressing on the pattern of Special Protection Group commandos, who mostly don safari suits, though to ensure the element of surprise their attire aboard flights is likely to keep changing.

The commandos have also been instructed not to carry automatic weapons but only small weapons, probably their service pistols.

For all the VVIPs abandoned by the NSG, state security agencies will make alternate arrangements. Sources reveal that as part of the new ``commercial'' arrangement with the IA and A-I, the Ministry for Civil Aviation will pay the Ministry for Home Affairs for the services of the NSG. The exact terms, including payments, are being worked out in a series of meetings to beheld this week.

Only AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha, Samjadwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah will continue to enjoy NSG protection.