NSG escorts flights, taken off VVIP duties

Pakistan Airlines and Israel’s El-Al already have in-flight security personnel. A similar suggestion had been made in India after the spate of hijackings in 1993 but the Ministry of Civil Aviation blocked it on the ground that the cost of implementing such a plan would be prohibitive.

The Government has decided to do away with the NSG’s black uniform on board since the idea is to provide an “unobtrusive presence”. The NSG commandos are dressing on the pattern of Special Protection Group commandos, who mostly don safari suits, though to ensure the element of surprise their attire aboard flights is likely to keep changing.

The commandos have also been instructed not to carry automatic weapons but only small weapons, probably their service pistols.

For all the VVIPs abandoned by the NSG, state security agencies will make alternate arrangements. Sources reveal that as part of the new “commercial” arrangement with the IA and A-I, the Ministry for Civil Aviation will pay the Ministry for Home Affairs for the services of the NSG. The exact terms, including payments, are being worked out in a series of meetings to be held this week.

Only AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha, Samjadwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah will continue to enjoy NSG protection.

Home Ministry officials who have been asking successive ministers to withdraw the NSG from security duties are feeling vindicated. Said a senior official: “The NSG will finally be doing what was originally set up to do. It has taken this hijack to make us take the controversial decision to withdraw it from VVIP security duties”.

The NSG was originally set up as a crack anti-terrorism and anti-hijack force following Indira Gandhi’s assassination. It has a strength of around 3,000. The men have been drawn from various disciplines. It also has two anti-hijack squads — comprising around 90 commandos — stationed near the international airport, and it is understood they will remain undisturbed.