Republic day parade rehearsals at Rajpath in New Delhi on Saturday

NEW DELHI: In view of information that terrorist outfits are under pressure from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and their terror affiliates to carry out attacks during Republic Day events, the intelligence agencies have alerted the states to remain vigilant until the celebration of Republic Day.

Intelligence sources said that the ISI and terrorist outfits based in Pakistan had warned sleeper cells to carry out some spectacular action during the Republic Day, else their funding would be stopped. The inputs were gathered by the agencies after decoding chatter picked up recently.

Inputs with the agencies also suggest that the ISI recently held a meeting with senior Army officials and terrorist commanders at Rawalpindi. During the meeting, the terror groups Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad expressed concern over the loss of their cadres in Jammu and Kashmir and the dwindling morale of the sleeper cells in the hinterland. A decision to revisit their terror tactics was also taken during the meeting, intelligence sources said.

Following assessments suggesting that the inputs were serious in nature, the agencies informed the Union Home Ministry. The Ministry, in turn, issued an advisory to the chief secretaries and directors general and commissioners of police of the northern states--Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh---asking them to keep a tight vigil on all airborne aircraft, microlight aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.

The advisory further suggested that a tight vigil be kept on unused airstrips and open grounds which may be used for launching aircraft operations.

“Keep surveillance and positioning of special security guards at recognised field to check that no light/microlight aircraft, hang glider and helicopter is allowed to fly or even start on and around Republic Day,” a Home Ministry official said, quoting the advisory.