America flashes visa virus alert

Washington: The US government has just stopped short of asking its citizens not to visit India in the light of mounting tales of harassment of Americans by immigration officials at airports across the country.
The harassment is the result of severely red faces in the Union home ministry over revelations that not only David Coleman Headley, but Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, also visited India with impunity.
Adding to the pressure on the home ministry to take draconian measures against arriving foreign tourists, those fighting turf battles against North Block have dug up proof showing that Masood Azhar, head of the terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, arrived in Delhi on a questionable Portuguese passport in 1994. Waved in by immigration officials, he went on to co-ordinate several terrorist plots on Indian soil.
It is the contention of South Block and others engaged in these turf battles that North Block lost no sleep for as long as 15 years over these gaps in internal security which may have contributed to the planning of the Mumbai attacks last year.
But because immigration officials at Indian airports are now suddenly going to another extreme and treating almost every arriving foreigner as a potential terrorist, the US embassy in New Delhi has issued the following advice to citizens planning trips to India: “American citizens travelling to, or departing from, India are urged to review travel plans in light of these changing procedures.”
23/12/-09 K P Nayar/The Telegraph

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Dec 2009, Safety Dec 2009