Union Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said that the government of India would take all necessary steps to meet the terrorist threat to Indian airports and passengers on airlines bound for Europe and United States.
He was speaking to newsmen in New Delhi on Monday after presiding over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between India and the United States on how to handle passenger traffic more efficiently.
"We did receive information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation against Al Queda's designs. The information came to the Union home ministry and they passed it on to us. We are taking whatever steps necessary to deal with the situation," he said in response to a question. The alert came on the eve of the resumption of the secretary level talks between India and Pakistan in New Delhi on Tuesday.
He revealed that the high level meeting to be presided over by the Cabinet Secretary on this matter has been postponed till Tuesday. Last week, the Tamil Nadu police had discovered a letter in which it had said that Al Queda had set its foot on Indian soil and it would now target five major airports in the south. "The letter is there and we are investigating the matter," he said.
The minister evaded giving a direct answer when asked if some action was being contemplated against the Kuwait Airlines plane that violated Delhi's VIP airspace and flew low over prohibited areas on Monday. "We are also looking into the incident. It would not be proper to say anything without getting the full facts," he said.
He refused to elaborate about the steps that the ministry of civil aviation would take to deal with the terrorist threat including deployment of air marshals on aircraft on various routes.
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