Officials tight-lipped on security arrangements

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 11. The Security wing of the Delhi Police has gone into a silence mode with just three days to go for the visit of the Pakistan President. And the reason lies not in any security threat but in the fact that the Special Commissioner (Security) of Delhi Police, Mr. R.S. Gupta, has directed his subordinate officers not to speak to the media.

The order runs contrary to the general approach of ``transparency'' which appears to be the guiding spirit behind the Commissioner of Police's press conferences on security arrangements before all major events - be it Independence Day or Republic Day.

Senior officers of the Security wing say they are unable to give out any information on the security drill officially because of the standing instructions. ``Unfortunately, we are not allowed to speak on the security arrangements,'' an officer said.

But then this has not deterred most of the officers from speaking about the general arrangements which have been made. ``No one would like to speak on the final route - as several have been kept on record of which one would be selected at the last moment - but general details should not be held back.''

The officer says there is hardly anything special to the security drill, except for the high profile of the VVIP concerned. ``Guarding the routes comes naturally to us. As for the places Mr. Musharraf would visit, sanitising the area is not difficult since this exercise is replicated on a much bigger scale during the Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations.''

What the Security wing officials are most wary of is a surprise visit by the First Lady, Ms. Sehba Musharraf, to one of the market places. ``She has already expressed her desire to go shopping. We are just hoping that she would confine herself to the Cottage Emporium. For if she decides to venture out, then covering her would become a big problem.''

Though the official contends that a surprise visit is also a surprise to a subversive, and as such there is little chance of an attack, with the job of the police centering around protecting the dignitary, he says such situations are best avoided.

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