Army orders inquiry into security breach at Srinagar airport

The army has ordered a court of inquiry into the alleged breach of security at Srinagar airport last week in which two civilians drove unchecked to an area closed to unauthorised persons.

Taking cognisance of media reports, the court of inquiry will ascertain if the vehicle had passed through any security zones under army control or any checkpoints manned by it at the highly-protected installation, a senior army officer said on Wednesday.

Although the airport security is not directly under the army, there are some areas and checkpoints on its periphery that are manned by it, he added.

According to media reports, Parvaiz Ahmad Dar and Mudasir Ahmad Mir entered the highest security 'technical area' of the airport through the Rangreth entry point.

The area in question is completely out-of-bounds for civilians, including state government functionaries, and is strictly for use by the army and the Indian Air Force, besides VVIPs such as the prime minister and the President.

While the entrance for civilians on the Humhama side is manned by the Central Reserve Police Force, the passage through the technical area is controlled by the army.

After making an entry in the log, army guards retained Dar's driving licence and asked him to proceed with the advice that the vehicle would be checked by a bomb disposal squad inside the operational area, according to reports. However, the report claimed that the vehicle was not checked at any of the six barriers and checkpoints on the four km-long security corridor and no one seemed to be bothered to find out how the private car was heading towards the tarmac.

The duo were noticed and detained by the anti-hijacking police at the airport, when the accused were returning from the tarmac along with two passengers.

All the four were later handed over to the local police but were released after 30 hours of questioning as "nothing adverse was found in their antecedents".