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Ganga almost revisited

As if Pakistan did not have enough troubles already, three hijackers tried to take PK-554, on a flight from Gwadar to Karachi in the afternoon of Sunday May 24, 1998, to New Delhi. No words of praise are enough for the cockpit crew of PIA’s Fokker who used their presence of mind to make a landing at Hyderabad, faking it to be an airfield in Rajasthan. Thereafter a combination of civil and military officials kept the bluff up till the hijackers were locked into a situation where they were overpowered and disarmed. Again our security personnel deserve high praise for their swift and surgical operation that resulted in injuries (resulting in his death later) to only one hijacker, all the passengers and crew remained unhurt. One of the rescuers, an Army Major, was injured but from available reports not too badly. Chief Secretary Sindh Zubair Kidwai showed the true mettle of an honest, dedicated civil servant very much conscious of his responsibilities. By leading from the front he provided that special factor of leadership that is otherwise in short supply in Pakistan.

The authorities are yet to unravel all the secrets from the disturbed minds of the two survivors from the three who attempted the hijacking. It could be an isolated incident of summer madness but it is more probable that it was a calculated move to embarrass Pakistan and they were simply puppets on a string being manipulated by civil masters with malafide designs on Pakistan. Visions of “Ganga” in 1971 were revived. Their antecedents, motives, connections, etc need to be obtained in a hurry and the Marquess of Queensbury rules need not be applied to such terrorists who put the lives of innocents including women and children in danger. Failure to obtain information swiftly and concisely will add to the intelligence and security failures that allows such events to take place. However, it must be said that terrorists are sometimes dedicated persons who will always manage to get through any obstacles, human or electronic.

The Airport Security Force (ASF) has been very effective in the past, seizing quite a few weapons and dangerous objects from would-be-hijackers. Two years or so ago they aborted an hijacking in the air by gunning down some hijackers. However, in this case they fell flat on their faces and that also in a heightened security environment because of the nuclear crisis. While the Defence Ministry has reacted by suspending the entire security staff at Gwadar, the problems are much higher and they know it. A lot depends upon the leadership of such a force, if a perception develops among the rank and file that the leadership marches to a different beat than the original mission assigned and/or their stated responsibilities, then down the line a sense of complacency develops that is fatal in respect of security, such lapses have terrible consequences. Coincidentally a few days ago, I had the occasion to point out to the person ultimately responsible for airport security in the Ministry of Defence a major area of concern at Karachi Airport. While the response was routine, my connection to the print media may have caused inertia to be somewhat moved. The point of concern is irrelevant in this context but the attitude of the commander on the ground made it almost mandatory that such events were “incidents waiting to happen.” This tin god was not even upto talking in a telephone call till his superior interceded — and I wish I could publish his faxed reply, not only was it an exercise in excuse-making, it would have been amusing if it was not pathetic. However, the sorry fact remains that this person was found fit to be put in charge of aviation security in the first place, the clubby atmosphere of uniformed camaraderie protects such people till they make fatal mistakes at a severe cost to the country. The senior official in the Ministry of Defence had stated that, “if he is not found fit we will replace him.” Would another hijacking require such action or should be assumed this man’s goodwill has finally evaporated? This time we were lucky not to face an international embarrassment, next time we may not be so lucky.

The official security forces of any country have no role to play inside the airport building except create a bureaucratic maze. The ASF has a role and that is to provide security to the perimeter and entrances. Inside the airport building the manning of the scanning machines etc could be either with a private security or with CAA security staff as in all the other countries of the world where security is of heightened concern. Those who are familiar with CAA lounges at odd hours will confirm that it is mostly used as a sleeping lounge by ASF personnel on-duty. Again the element of leadership is a primary factor here, if surprise checks were a regular feature this would never take place. When the force at major airports is resigned to complacency what does one expect from the responsible ASF officials at Gwadar except what happened on the afternoon of Sunday May 24, 1998?

The penchant of bureaucracy is to build their own empires and keep adding to it while the modern trend is to dismantle such fiefdoms and in their place utilise the private sector. Put a group of bureaucrats together and ask them to come up with a solution, they will ask for more manpower, equipment and transport, even a new force. This will mean more perks, more promotions — and above all more money to siphon off. In many cases the private sector can do the same job much more efficiently at probably half the cost. While some areas must necessarily remain within the domain of the public sector, both the Ministries of Defence and Interior have to take into cognizance that they should reduce their long-term burden on the exchequer rather than add to it. A bloated bureaucratic set-up is why we are in trouble economically and as such incidents at Gwadar have shown, even security-wise. The government must invite private sector consultants as other countries do around the world to create an effective security environment, one that does not ponder to cronies and money. The present inefficient, indolent security set-up is not able to contain problems, it has become a problem itself. The Gwadar incident must be used as “a wake-up call” (to use the COAS words recently in other context) and our security analysis and reaction reviewed along with the training and management of the forces who are responsible to ensure the security objective. Above all let’s get our process of selecting the right leadership right. In security the worst security hazard is the security chief who holes up an ivory tower and cannot see that his feet are mired in foundations of clay.

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