Airports in Srinagar and Jammu are to be "immediately" brought under the security cover of the CISF in view of the arrest of DSP Davinder Singh, a Jammu and Kashmir government order has said.
The two sensitive airports are to be "handed over" to the CISF by 31 January, the order of the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department to the Director General of Police (DGP) said.
“This issue (CISF security at Srinagar and Jammu airports) has acquired immediacy in view of the recent developments relating to the arrest of Davinder Singh, DSP airport security, for trying to assist militants to travel to other parts of the country,” the order issued on Wednesday, 15 January, said.
Police had arrested Singh, a deputy superintendent of police, at Mir Bazar in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district on Saturday, 11 January, along with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists Naveed Baba and Altaf, besides a lawyer who was operating as an overground worker for terror outfits.
The two airports are guarded by the CRPF and the J-K Police at present.
Home Ministry Sanctioned 800 Personnel to the CISF
The Union government had last year decided that the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will be handed over security of these two airports along with the one in Leh in view of their sensitive and strategic location and the threats it faced related to possible terrorist and hijack attempts.
CISF is the national civil aviation security force and at present it guards 61 airports including the ones at Delhi and Mumbai.
PTI had on 13 January, reported that the Union home ministry sanctioned about 800 personnel to the CISF in order to take over security duties at the three airports of the newly created Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
As per the original plan, the CISF was to take over Jammu airport by next month and the Srinagar and Leh airports after the spell of severe cold ends.
However, officials said, keeping in mind the arrest of the DSP and his alleged links, the latest order has been issued which also directs the J-K Police to make arrangements for accommodation, transport and other logistical requirements of the armed contingent of the CISF on a quick basis.
Once inducted at the most-sensitive Srinagar airport, the CISF will secure access control at both city and air side (tarmac area) while the CRPF will be responsible for securing the outer periphery.
At the Jammu airport, the peripheral security duties will be rendered by the J-K Police.
An assortment of surveillance and security gadgets like CCTVs, observation monitors, hand-held metal detectors, bullet-proof patrol vehicles and bomb detection and disposal equipment are also being provided by the airport operator, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), to the CISF.
The Union government sometime back made it clear that CISF will be the only civil airports guarding force and all such facilities in the country will be gradually brought under its command to bolster aviation security and tighten anti-terror and anti-hijack protocols.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)