TERROR IN THE AIR

The arrest of Lashkar-e-Toiba’s operative Faheem Ansari by the UP Police is turning out to be a vital breakthrough in India’s fight against terrorism. Many of Faheem’s revelations bore chilling connections to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He had already revealed that Mumbai hotels could be targets for attacks and that terrorists could come by the sea route. Ansari’s latest admission that the next terror attacks would be targeted at India’s airports that has shook up the security agencies, which took immediate steps to secure entry and exit route access to all major Indian airports.

However, the security agencies seem to have looked over a crucial security loophole. The boundary walls of several major airports, including the ones in Delhi and Mumbai, remain dangerously porous and pose a direct threat to all aircrafts landing and taking-off from these airports. In Mumbai for example, a huge slum cluster exists right next to the airport perimeter wall. Standing on the rooftop of a nearby house, it is possible for any terrorist to open sniper fire or to shoot a grenade on a aircraft inside the airport. Such an attack can be easily prevented by raising the height of the perimeter wall to several meters, or by taking away the nearby slum clusters.

FAMILIAR AFFAIRS

I am happy that Sukhbir Singh Badal has been appointed as Punjab’s deputy chief minister by his father. As the father-son duo get ready to keep the charge of state government within family, I think it is high time that the Congress stops getting blamed for being a dynasty-centric party by all opposition parties, including BJP.  As a matter of fact, no major political party in India today can claim to be free from dynasty-led organisation. The majority of NDA constituents are well renowned as dynasty-led parties, examples include Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh. There are number of prominent leaders within the BJP who have promoted their family members in politics. The anointment of Sukhbir Badal merely adds to the growing list.

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