Officers not allowed to pay homage

Is security more important than patriotism? That was the question being asked at the Delhi airport on Wednesday evening.

Ultimately, security prevailed as Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel turned away a group of army officers who had gone to the airport to pay homage to two fallen soldiers.

According to sources in the army, the group of officers had landed up at the cargo terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Wednesday afternoon just before the bodies of captain Devender Singh Jass and naik Selva Kumar were brought in from Srinagar.

Jass and Kumar were members of the prestigious 1 para special forces. They got killed in Sopore during an operation on a terrorist hideout.

The CISF personnel guarding the cargo terminal refused to allow the officers, including a general and a brigadier, to enter. Many of them were from the special forces, the army’s elite command units where the bravest serve. When these officers tried to prove their identity by showing ID cards and bravery awards, the CISF personnel were not very pleased. “They were rude,” said one officer.

But, airport sources insisted the CISF personnel were merely doing their job. “They allowed in people whose names were in the list provided by the Delhi area (unit),” said one source. Those who wanted to pay homage should have got their security slips issued in advance.”

Sources in the army said the Delhi area will take up the issue with the government. One officer said they could probably shift the homage ceremony to the technical area of the airport, which

is meant for military operations.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_officers-not-allowed-to-pay-homage-to-martyrs_1352709