Passage to India: sky marshals on board?

New Delhi: The Australian and Austrian governments want sky marshals on board their carriers operating flights to India.
A request to this affect has been received by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which has sought the views of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security — the regulatory authority for civil aviation security in India.
For a sky marshal to be on board, a formal MoU (memorandum of understanding) needs to be signed between two countries as was done by India and the US in January. Sky marshal is an undercover agent on board a commercial aircraft to counter a hijacking.
The two requests received within a span of a month point to apprehensions that western countries might have regarding aviation security in the country, senior civil aviation officials said.
“Strictly speaking, the request do indicate that they think of India as an unsafe destination where security arrangements are not sound enough and loopholes exist,” said A.K. Doval, former director, Intelligence Bureau.
04/07/10 Tushar Srivastava/Hindustan Times

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Categories: Foreign Jul 2010, Safety Jul 2010