Security stabilised after Pathankot but needs to improve: IAF

Shillong, Feb 29: The security scenario in the country has stabilised after the Pathankot attack, though it is yet to improve, Air Officer Commanding in Chief of the Eastern Air Command C Harikumar today said.

"Though stabilised, we have not been able to improve (our security)," Harikumar told reporters here today.

"Our country has been fighting to improve security for quite sometime. We have inimical agents that are not allowing us to settle that," he said.

The Eastern Air Command Chief said, "No other country will find so much police visible all over. Though stabilised, we have not been able to improve."

"Post Pathankot incident and thereafter in Jammu and Kashmir, we realised that we need to have added emphasis to ensure that our bases are more secure," Harikumar said.

"We have made SOPs, we have made a lot of decisions and a lot of brainstorming on this. We are seeing how we can involve everybody, including the state, as our outer cover to ensure that our assets are not affected," he said.

Harikumar hosted a two-day seminar on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) aimed at synergising all state governments, army, navy, para-military forces in any emergency or disaster relief operations in the future. In the past five years, IAF helicopters have successfully evacuated 10,868 persons from several disaster zones or flood- affected areas in the Eastern Command's reach.

During the same time, over 1,200 hours of flying efforts have been made for such operations, defence spokesman Amit Mahajan said. In the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations, the need to involve IAF in all four steps of disaster management - mitigation, preparation, response and recovery - by all agencies was reiterated during the seminar.

In other presentations, HADR in remote locations of the NE region, air maintenance towards the sustenance of armed forces and civilian population were also discussed, Mahajan added.

PTI