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India has finally woken up to the changed times of terrorism and drafted a policy to prevent a 9/11 scenario. The Indian Express reports that a policy approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) allows the government to shoot down an airliner if it is turned into a missile, headed toward any place of national interest. It also makes clear that they would be no negotiations with hijackers and fighter jets would accompany the plane in question as long as it is in Indian airspace. A Threat Aircraft – “A rogue aircraft that takes no cognizance of ATC warnings or that of air defense fighter aircraft and whose flight path is aligned to a strategic target like Rashtrapati Bhavan, government installations, Parliament House etc” will be taken down and “a decision to shoot it down will come into play. Such a decision will be taken by the CCS, the apex body for handling hijack situations. However, in case of shortage of time, the Prime Minister, Defense Minister or Home Minister—who ever can be reached first—will take a call.”
This is an obvious reaction to the infamous IC-814 Kandhar hijacking incident (better late than never, I say) where anything that shouldn’t be done while handling a hijack incident was done. That incident saw India releasing dreaded terrorists - Maulana Masood Azhar and Omar Sheikh – who have been implicated in the recent war against terror. I am completely in favor of this stern hijack policy that sends out a strong message to possible terrorists and goes a long way in changing India’s alleged ‘soft’ image. As the events of 9/11 were unfolding, a plane over Pennsylvania was brought down allegedly by brave passengers who fought the terrorists. My conspiracy-theory mind tells me that the US Air Force may have shot down that plane since it was headed toward the White House or the US Capitol.
Hardened terrorists like the ones at work in Kashmir do not understand the message of peace and aim at inflicting maximum damage even at the cost of innocent lives and should be dealt harshly. I am not sure if this policy will be implemented in a real-time scenario because of large-scale political implications of coalition dynamics. But in the interest of national security, I hope better sense prevails and our leaders put the interest of our nation above short-term political gain. Although I hope there never comes a time to implement this policy but we better be prepared for a harsher world that is out there.
Update: Nitin Pai has an excellent analysis of the policy up too.
by Patrix | on Sunday, August 14th, 2005 at 12:00 am | 
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August 16th, 2005 at 11:49 pm reply
Hope this works when it is supposed to…. coz it is a tricky situation when a plane is hijacked… and if some politician is travelling aboard then even more so
August 17th, 2005 at 5:49 pm reply
@mit, it is a difficult decision to shoot down a hijacked plane full of innocent passengers irrespective of a politician on board. But I hope the law will be implemented in all fairness and in the best interests of the nation.