Beef up security of VVIPs in public events: Modi Govt alerts states citing Donald Trump’s assassination attempt
The Union government has asked police heads of states, union territories, and paramilitary forces to beef up the security of ‘high-risk’ dignitaries, especially during rallies and roadshows. The directives come days after the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump.
Trump, the Republican nominee for US Presidential Elections scheduled later this year, survived an assassination attempt on July 13, when he was addressing a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump is not the only politician to face an assassination attempt. The government has cited seven assassination attempts, including the recent one on Trump, in its letter shot off to the Director Generals of Police (DGPs), including those in charge of the CRPF, CISF, ITBP, NSG, as well as state intelligence bureaus on July 16, according to a report in Indian Express.
In May 2024, a shooter made an assassination attempt on Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. In April 2023, a youth hurled a smoke bomb towards former PM of Japan, Fumio Kishidaduring an election campaign speech. In July 2022, the former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, was assassinated.
“During a road march, former Pakistan PM Imran Khan was fired upon on November 3, 2022. In September 2022, Vice-President of Argentina, Christina Fernandez, escaped an assassination bid,” the Indian Express report quoted an official, citing the communication from the Centre’s internal security division.
The government’s missive says that these incidents underline the vulnerabilities of high-risk dignitaries to various threats during public interfaces, including rallies, corner meetings, and roadshows.
The report said physical security measures, technical surveillance, contingency drills, and the role of personal security officers have to be focused on, per the government’s note.
“The proximate area should have only a minimum number of authorised persons, and there should be no crowding around the dignitary. The venue should be put through comprehensive physical, visual and technical checks followed by deployment of security personnel, the report quoted the official, citing the government’s note.
The note says the area around the venue should be secured up to a sufficient depth, and all high-rise features and other vantage points in the vicinity that offer a direct line of sight of the dignitary should be sanitised and dominated.
In India, there have been assassination attempts on politicians. Two former prime ministers, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, were assassinated.
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First Published:
25 Jul 2024, 09:58 AM IST
