07 December,2009 08:15 AM IST | | Chandran Iyer
Foreignu00a0scientists will have to furnish details of their parentage before being allowed to attend International energy conference in city
Suspected LeT terrorist Daood Gilani managed to hoodwink international investigating agencies for nearly three years by changing his name to David Headley.
Keeping the Headley episode in mind, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is not willing to take any chances during a highly sensitive international conference on high energy materials to be held in Pune from tomorrow.
The MEA not only wants to know the names, addresses and other details, but also the parentage of the foreign delegates, as Gilani had changed his name to Headley to hide his real name and surname. Headley had slipped in to Pune twice on July 24, 2008 and then on March 16, 2009 on a business visa.
As a result, all the foreign scientists and delegates who will be attending the 7th International High Energy Materials Conference and Exhibit (HEMCE 2009), organised by High Energy Materials Ltd under the auspices of Defence Research and Development Organisationu00a0 (DRDO), are being subjected to intense screening of their documents before allowing them entry.
Stricter checks
A senior DRDO said, "After the Headley episode, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has become stricter in scrutinising the documents of the delegates and scientists and are also checking the person's parentage to ensure that there is no change of name like in the case of Headley."
The reason the MEA wants to be extra cautious is obvious. The three-day conference that begins on December 8 will be focusing on sensitive subjects like advance propellants systems, high performance explosives, and nano materials, which are of immense use to the defence forces.
Manish Bharadwaj, HEMRL spokesperson, said, "Scrutinising the documents of foreign delegates who attend the international conference in India by the MEA authorities in Delhi is a normal drill. Only this time it has become stricter by asking them to provide even the details of their parentage".
The conference will be attended by about 450 delegates including eminent scientists and technologists from ISRO, CSIR, BARC and DRDO.
Besides 32 renowned experts from seven other countries will also be attending the conference.
