The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police recently blamed the Indian Air Force personnel for the breach of security that led to two youths driving up to the tarmac of the highly protected airport. The duo had taken their vehicle to the runway in the technical area, declared out of bounds even for VVIPs except for the President and the Prime Minister.

The youths—Parvaiz Ahmad Dar and Mudasir Ahmad Mir of Handwara in Kupwara district—entered the heavily guarded airport on May 9 around 3 p.m. through Rangreth gate, manned by IAF personnel, SP (Budgam), Uttam Chand, said. “However, we let them off a day later after being convinced that they had no intention to cause any harm,” he said. However, the defence spokesperson of Northern Command said the Army had asked for a report from those who were on security duty at the technical area at that time.

The vehicle was spotted near the runway by men from the antihijacking squad of J&K Police soon after a flight from Delhi landed, SP (anti-hijacking squad), Abdul Rashid, said. “During questioning, the duo said they had entered through the military gate not knowing the entrance to the passenger terminal. We had handed them over along with their guests—Khalid Farooq Bhat and Mohammad Shafi Bhat—to police,” he said.