Ministers in Azad entourage will have to get bags checked

Nearly a month after Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was provided with NSG cover, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has decided to screen the luggage of his Cabinet colleagues and senior bureaucrats who accompany him during official tours onboard the state aircraft. The decision was taken after intelligence inputs about a possible terror mole in the CM’s office.

Well-placed sources in the administration said the state Home Department has, in a circular, issued fresh guidelines to ministers and senior bureaucrats to get their baggage checked by commandos of the state police’s Special Security Group (SSG) before travelling with the Chief Minister. This means that the ministers and officials will now have to send their baggage to the SSG headquarters in Srinagar and Jammu at least 90 minutes earlier, as none of the airports have X-ray machines. “This has been done in view of the increased threat perception to the Chief Minister and also to ensure that there is no breach of security during his travel onboard the state aircraft,” a senior bureaucrat said. A number of people in Azad’s personal staff were withdrawn last month, following intelligence inputs and he was advised not to make unscheduled visits or address public rallies from behind a security shield.