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Rediff.com  » News » BJP calls policy on hijacked plane a 'paper tiger'

BJP calls policy on hijacked plane a 'paper tiger'

By Onkar Singh in New Delhi
August 15, 2005 12:41 IST
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The Bhartiya Janata Party has described the new policy under which a hijacked plane can be shot down as a 'paper tiger.'

According to the party, this is an impractical policy that cannot be put into practice.

Speaking to rediff.com, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, vice president of the party, said the policy has not come as a surprise. "If you ask me, this is a merely a paper tiger. How on earth can you shoot down a plane that has hundreds of innocent passengers merely because it has been hijacked. This is impractical," he said.

Former Director General of Punjab Police K P S Gill refused to comment on the policy. "On paper it looks good. But I cannot comment unless I have seen the whole paper on it. Just because someone picks up a para or two from the policy and places it out of context does not mean that I can form my opinion on that. I need time to study the relevant document before passing my judgement," he said.

But Former commissioner of police Delhi and Lok Sabha member of the Congress party Nikhil Kumar Singh commended the government of India for putting up a basic policy in place to deal with what he called a rouge aircraft.

Also read: Govt adopts tough anti-hijack policy

"I would say that this is a tremendous beginning as for a long time, it was felt that we should have a policy that addresses the menace of hijacking and also takes care of the problem of rouge aircraft heading for important buildings like the Rashtrapati Bhavan, parliament house, prime minister's office or residence or any other building of national importance. We do not want a repeat of 9/11. The decision to shoot down a plane would be taken by the prime minister/home minister/defence minister and in their absence by the chief of the Indian Air Force," Nikhil Kumar Singh pointed out.

According to him, the implementation of the new policy would also have a deterrant effect on the potential hijackers. "Anyone even thinking of doing this act would know that he could lose his life in this venture. If the Inspector General of police Amritsar had taken preventive action and shot IC 814 in the tyres and prevented the aircraft from taking off from the airport, the results could have been different," he said.

He agreed that though the United Kingdom and Russia had similar laws in their country, they had not implemented it so far.

"Israel is a leading example in this respect. They retaliate to a terrorist attack with full force. In 1972, they lost their athletes in Munich Olympic Games and have since decided to strike back with vengence," said another senior police officer.

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Onkar Singh in New Delhi
 
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