New Delhi:Days after Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun threatened to blow up an Air India flight on the birth anniversary of former PM Indira Gandhi on November 19, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) asked airports in Delhi and Punjab to stop issuing airport entry passes to visitors.
According to the BCAS order issued on Monday evening, "Issue of TAEP’s (temporary airport entry pass) entry of visitors to the terminal building of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi and sale of visitors entry tickets shall be banned" till November 30. The aviation security authority further stated that this has been done as a precautionary measure "Given the continuous threat messages being shared by the Central Agencies" regarding the "threat to civil aviation installations over all India airport like airports, airstrips, airfields, air force stations, helipads, flying schools and aviation training institutes.”
Along with this, passengers travelling on Air Indian flights from Delhi and Punjab Airport will be subjected to additional security checks apart from the issuance of visitor entry tickets that have been stopped at the Delhi airport till November 30. It further said that the security agency at the airport will have to mandatorily have the secondary ladder point check (SLPC). "100% SLPC for all Air India flights at the IGI Airport and airports in Punjab", the order stated.
The row over Khalistani extremism and anti-India rhetoric has become a bone of contention between India and Canada and has become a matter of utmost concern for the Indian security agencies. It is pertinent to note here that a video surfaced on social media featuring designated terrorist Pannun on November 4 in which he can be heard asking Sikhs to avoid boarding Air India flights on November 19 and warning the security agencies saying that Air India will not be allowed to fly anywhere across the world on that day. November 19 is the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984.
