India to help Nepal boost airport safety

MORE THAN 11 years after the IC- 814 hijacking episode, India has offered to help modernise the immigration system at Nepal's international airport in Kathmandu in a bid to prevent another similar strike.

This was among a host of other measures agreed upon on the first day of the two- day bilateral talks between home secretary R. K. Singh and his Nepalese counterpart Sushil Jung Rana that began on Monday.

During the December 24, 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft enroute to Delhi from Kathmandu, terrorists had managed to smuggle weapons on to the plane in spite of the airport security.

Since then, India sends NSG commandoes as sky marshals on Indian carriers headed to Nepal, while passengers from Kathmandu are subjected to rigorous security checks.

Indian help to boost the immigration and security apparatus at Kathmandu's international step to plug any remaining loopholes that could jeopardise passenger safety.

India and Nepal have also agreed on a real- time exchange of terror- related information. Apart from this, Nepal has assured India that it has actively been trying to rein in the racket wherein fake Indian banknotes produced in Pakistan are being smuggled to Nepal for easy passage to India through the porous border.

The two countries will be working to enhance cooperation between their border security forces to check smuggling of drugs, arms and ammunition, apart from other cross bordercrimes.

India will also be helping Nepal improve its police training facilities, while allowing Nepalese police personnel to train in Indian police institutes.

Agreement on terror information exchange