‘Bomb Hoax Calls A Planned Conspiracy To Hit India Growth Story’
Dipanshu Khosla, a frequent flyer, says that the sudden spurt in bomb threat calls to Indian airlines must be dealt with a strong hand by enforcement agencies. His views:
I have a flight scheduled next week and I am having sleepless nights. The reason is sudden spate of hoax bomb calls that has wreaked havoc on domestic and international flights in India. Weird thoughts keep coming in my mind about what if my flight too is delayed by a similar call, and I get stranded.
I am convinced that this is a well-planned conspiracy to disrupt Indian air traffic and cause untold damage to aviation sector. I strongly suspect this is an attempt to harm our national interests and destabilize the current government. If you look closely, even terror acts in Jammu & Kashmir are on a rise for the past few months and this strongly substantiates my doubts.
According to reports, over 150 such hoax calls were made over the past two weeks and over 40 such calls disrupted international flight schedules. This has resulted in an unexpected and serious situation in the Indian aviation history, leading to emergency landings and flight diversions which left flyers panicked and puzzled. This is not only creating major disruptions but it is also raising questions over security measures and safety of the passengers in Indian flights. Clearly, India growth story is not palatable to certain subversive groups.
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In my opinion, the government should come up with new and stringent laws or mend the existing practices and procedures to nail the offenders and punish them strictly. Advance phone call screening or cyber security must be put in place to curb this menace. Though on a majority of occasions, it is next to impossible to trace such offenders, India needs to send a strong message. For this either our enforcement agencies can work collectively or form a new dedicated task force.
The judiciary must come onboard to ensure that the accused in such cases do not walk out freely. A hoax call must be treated as a heinous crime or an act of terror. Laws should be such that it must instigate a fear of law amongst people and the society at large.
I recently heard our civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu speak about the matter and it was a pleasant surprise to hear a responsible man apprising common public about the threats and remedies pertaining to the ongoing crisis. According to him, a few sources have been identified and some miscreants/criminals have also been nabbed.
Another thing I would like to put on record – recently a wanted criminal Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is based in America and enjoying all kinds of freedom there, has threatened people not to travel in Air India planes between November 1and November 19. Why can’t anything be done to wipe off such termites? After a long time, we are blessed to have an experienced and learned diplomat as our foreign minister. Why can’t our Ministry of External Affairs devise a foolproof plan to bring to book on the foreign soil and send a strong message to the world?
As told to Rajat Rai
