NEW DELHI, Oct 4: Security has been stepped up at a string of major Indian airports after warnings that a flight to or from Nepal could be hijacked, a security official said on Wednesday.

The alert was issued after a New Delhi court ordered a Kashmiri man, convicted for his role in a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, to be hanged on Oct 20.

Mohammed Afzal’s wife on Tuesday asked the President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, to pardon her husband, and his decision is awaited.

“We have received a specific intelligence input that terrorists may plan to hijack a plane to or from Kathmandu in response to the hanging,” the official said.

In response to the threat, more security officials have been sent to 13 airports, manual searches have been increased and quick-reaction teams stationed at airports have been told to be extra vigilant.

Nepalese authorities said they had also beefed up security in the country’s only international airport in the capital, Kathmandu.

“We have tightened the security (and) put all concerned agencies on high alert,” airport police chief Prakash Kunwar said. “We have increased security checks for passengers and baggage.”

Since the hanging date was announced last week, there have been nearly daily protests in occupied Kashmir. The airports include those in New Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Varanasi and Kolkata.

An Indian Airlines plane was hijacked in 1999 en route from Kathmandu to New Delhi and was taken to the Afghan city of Kandahar.—Reuters