Chandigarh: The former cabinet secretary had "frittered away opportunities to gun down terrorists" when the infamous Indian Airlines flight IC-814 had landed in Amritsar while on its way to Kandahar in 1999. This has been stated by former Punjab top cop KPS Gill who has come out in support of former RAW chief A S Dulat's disclosure of goof-ups in the handling of the hijacking.
"What Dulat is saying today is not misplaced," he told TOI. "What transpired in Amritsar was avoidable. I rang up the then cabinet secretary Prabhat Kumar twice to use my past experience at the same airport, but he didn't return my phone calls." Gill retired in 1995.
The 1989 Padma Shri award-winner further said that National Security Guards (NSG) should have been paratrooped from Manesar without waiting for a go-ahead from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for two hours while considering that early darkness on a wintry December would have made the take-off impossible.
At the same time Gill says the Punjab cops should not have allowed IC-814 to take off by switching off the runway lights and setting up blockades. The flight had taken off 7.44pm on December 24.
Gill had successfully handled two hijacking incidents at the same tarmac in Amritsar in 1993.
04/07/15 Rohan Dua/Times of India
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"What Dulat is saying today is not misplaced," he told TOI. "What transpired in Amritsar was avoidable. I rang up the then cabinet secretary Prabhat Kumar twice to use my past experience at the same airport, but he didn't return my phone calls." Gill retired in 1995.
The 1989 Padma Shri award-winner further said that National Security Guards (NSG) should have been paratrooped from Manesar without waiting for a go-ahead from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for two hours while considering that early darkness on a wintry December would have made the take-off impossible.
At the same time Gill says the Punjab cops should not have allowed IC-814 to take off by switching off the runway lights and setting up blockades. The flight had taken off 7.44pm on December 24.
Gill had successfully handled two hijacking incidents at the same tarmac in Amritsar in 1993.
04/07/15 Rohan Dua/Times of India
