NSA alerts Pathankot airbase on ‘aerial attack’

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, June 29

The National Security Agency (NSA) has alerted the Pathankot Air Force station about a possible aerial attack by Pakistan-based terror outfits through micro-light aircraft, including gliders, and para-motors.

The authorities here have distributed posters warning residents about these aerial vehicles.

Sources claim that the authorities have gone on overdrive warning residents of ‘aerial offensives’ after the NSA sent alerts claiming that Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed may be planning these attacks.

The air base was declared a sensitive zone after the January 2 attack in which four militants and seven security personnel were killed.

On July 27 last year, three terrorists had laid siege to the police station in the border town of Dinanagar, 25 km from here, before they were gunned down in a 12-hour-long battle.

Sources claim that these aerial vehicles can be used for surveying sensitive areas and also to launch an offensive.

Scores of posters have been distributed in recent days in localities falling on the periphery of the air base. These posters contain pictures of gliders and have the telephone numbers of officials who can be contacted in case of an aerial threat.

Pathankot SSP Rakesh Kaushal said that he was in touch with air base officials and added that security in and around the city had been tightened.

The police have a special focus on the villages located near the international border and have also been holding security drills, including flag marches, in these areas.

“We are not taking any risks. Regular meetings are being held with the Army, BSF and various intelligence agencies to nullify any such offensive. Security has been tightened on the Pathankot-Jammu-Srinagar national highway as the tourist season is on,” said the SSP.

After issuing shoot-on-sight orders recently in villages and sub-urban areas located on the periphery of the Pathankot Air Force station, the distribution of posters is seen as the second major decision taken by the air base officials to check the terrorists.