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| India-Pakistan |
| Indian Govt plans no-talks policy, death for hijackers |
| 2008-02-14 |
| NEW DELHI: With the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the humiliating 1999 Kandahar hijack firmly on its radar, the UPA government plans to amend the Anti-Hijacking Act of 1982 to make it much more iron-fisted, providing for a no-negotiation policy and death penalty to the hijackers. The new measures would treat hijacking as "an act of aggression" and entail "directions to all domestic airports to promptly immobilise a hijacked plane if it lands", sources said. The proposed amendments to the 1982 Act are likely to be taken up by the Cabinet on Thursday. "If at all negotiations take place, it will only be tactical - aimed at preventing loss of life or bringing the incident to a swift closure," a source said, indicating that the government would not want a capitulation like the one witnessed in 1999 when three extremely dangerous terrorists were released. The new measures flow from the anti-hijacking policy cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security in August 2005. It allows shooting down of a "hostile plane if there is conclusive evidence that it is likely to be used as a missile to blow up strategic establishments", on the lines of the 9/11 Al-Qaida attacks in the US in 2001. The policy recognises that hijacked aircraft can be transformed into a "hostile" entity. The new amendment, making the law more stringent, has proposed death sentence for hijackers who use or seek to use the aircraft as a "missile". The existing provision in Section 4 of the 1982 Act limits punishment for the offence of hijacking an airplane to life imprisonment and a fine. The revised anti-hijacking policy also recommends that hijackers be awarded death penalty. The move, aiming to reduce the reaction time, proposes that if an aircraft registered in India is hijacked, personnel at all airports will have the power to immobilise it without seeking any permission from superior authorities. This, again, is aimed at avoiding crossed wires, delays and poor chain of command that saw IC 814 taking off for Kandahar from Amritsar's Raja Sansi airport after refuelling. Airborne hijacked plane, according to the new proposal, will be immediately surrounded by fighter aircraft within the Indian airspace. IAF has been given the authority to take necessary steps for scrambling fighters to guard and guide the hijacked aircraft and force it to land on an Indian airport, according to the anti-hijack policy of 2005. The policy laid down procedures to ensure NSG commandos, accompanied by a central negotiating team, are airborne within two hours of the hijack, the sources said. A commercial plane can be used for the purpose if an aircraft from IAF or Aviation Research Corps is not available. The policy also lays down a detailed coordination chain, starting from ATC to IAF to the Crisis Management Group and ending at CCS. |
| Posted by:john frum |