Civilian aircraft may have helped
BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
Dec. 2: The delay caused by lack of an adequate and designated aircraft at the Delhi airport to rush NSG commandos to Mumbai led to precious wastage of time in a situation when terrorists were gunning down innocent hostages at the Taj and Oberoi hotels in Mumbai. According to sources, the IL-76 aircraft under the operation of the Aviation Research Centre (under the Union home ministry and Cabinet Secretariat) was not immediately available to rush the commandos to Mumbai.
Questions are also being raised as to why smaller groups of commandos with their equipment could not have been rushed in civilian aircraft that could have been requisitioned in such an emergency. "IL-76 aircraft under the Indian Air Force are stationed at the Agra and Chandigarh air force bases. An IL-76 aircraft had to be rushed from Chandigarh," sources said. "The IL-76 aircraft (of Russian make) is a huge transport aircraft that is capable of rushing hundreds of commandos along with all their equipment. The IL-76 landed at Delhi following which the equipment of the commandos was loaded. After NSG commandos occupied the aircraft, it took off from Delhi at about 3 am, roughly five hours after the firing started in Mumbai. The IL-76, which has four engines, needs about 20 minutes to take off," sources said. Initially, 192 NSG commandos had been rushed to Mumbai in the IL-76 aircraft. Aviation sources said that there was no delay from the side of the air traffic at Delhi airport control which promptly allocated a direct route flight path for the aircraft.
***
Sena ‘bans’ Pak players in Mumbai
Mumbai, Dec. 2: The Shiv Sena will henceforth not permit any Pakistani player or cultural artiste to come and perform in Mumbai or Maharashtra, a senior party leader said. Party MP Sanjay Raut said that it had always been the Sena’s policy to discourage any kind of interaction between Pakistanis and Indians.
"However, after this dastardly terror attac-ks, we will ensure that not a single Pakistani player or cultural artiste will ever set foot anywhere in the state," Mr Raut said.
Castigating the Sena’s stand, Jatin Desai, a prominent activist said: "This was on the expe-cted lines from the Shiv Sena. In both India and Pakistan, the fundame-ntalist elements are str-ongly opposed to impr-oved relations."
—IANS