At Chakra News, we had the opportunity to interact with Mr Sanjay Lazar, who is a renowned Aviation expert and a geopolitical analyst. He is the CEO of Avialaz Consultants. He has around 40 years of experience in the aviation industry, covering airline operations, aviation law, safety, security, training, crisis management, and leadership coaching. He is one of the country's more prominent independent voices on aviation regulation and airline safety, frequently appearing in television debates and writing opinion pieces.

We interviewed him with a few short questions, on contemporary geopolitics, aviation security, etc, to which he expressed his opinions on. In the interview below, he shares his perspectives on these topics in detail. Presented below is the complete interview, in which he shares his views and analysis.

Interviewer: Do you think the change in Canada's political leadership is likely to affect Ottawa's approach towards Khalistani extremism or will India face the same challenges as they have?

Sanjay Lazar: In fact, I think Kani has been very good for India and Indian policies. As you can see very clearly, he has adopted his strongest stand against the Khalistanis and Khalistani separatism in India. He has not entertained them at all, unlike his predecessor Trudeau or previous governments. So, I think it will be positive for India. At the same time, we have to realise, and I was just telling this to Sandeep, the Khalistani strategy over the last 40 years has been a grassroots strategy, where they have embedded their people at all key positions across public sector as well as government. So today what's happened is they have all risen. So, the entire second rank of Canada and third rank are essentially Khalistanis supporting people. So, sooner or later, you are going to see the Khalistani influence on their government.

At this point, Carney is good for India and India must work with him to make sure that we can reduce their dependability on the Khalistanis. But in your view, it's going to increase with every change. In the long term, because you are building native opposition from Canadian Khalistanis within the system. You've got judges who are now Khalistanis supporting. You've got Crown Council sympathisers. You've got people in education ministries. You've got mayors. So, they are all coming to the fore. It's the same thing that you see in the UK. What happened 40-50 years ago, today you have so many Islamic enclaves across the UK. And they've become mayors. It's a similar situation. It's a wonderful strategy from a third party's point of view. It's a very smart long-term strategy. Unfortunately, neither India nor anybody else has been able to do something like this. The Chinese started trying to do it. But Canada at that time nipped the Chinese in the bud. And now it's the Khalistan mafia. Also, the renewed Khalistani narrative.

Interviewer: In your opinion, is it primarily an information warfare campaign? Or does it still represent an operational security threat as well?

Sanjay Lazar: The revised, and I spoke about this in the podcast with Sandeep. This revival of Khalistanis not without danger for India. It's not only in media. But we must remember that the Khalistan organisations and social media organisations or political organisations are 10 times richer today than they were 40 years ago. They really don't need Pakistani money anymore, though they get ISI money. They have their own drug system. They have their own trucking network. They are mules. They have their own flesh and amnesty trade. And arms. They've got four vertical sources of income. They are flush with funds which they wash through certain friendly gurdwaras in Saree, Bisi, etc. And they will pose a threat to India consistently. Not by armed attack or militancy directly. But by fostering and festering undercurrents of separatism within the state.

Interviewer: Also, there's an increasing use of AI and autonomous systems in aviation security. How would you gauge India's preparedness for the associated risks? How are we standing currently?

Sanjay Lazar: So, this is not a Khalistani question. This is aviation. I am very critical of our aviation systems in India. I think we have the most weak and corrupt systems. Especially our regulator. We need to reform it. And I have been one of those voters for the last 15 years who has said that we need to change. The previous government, UPA government, though I don't support that, had put in place the structure of a CAA. Civil Aviation Authority. An independent, autonomous organisation that would get funding from the Constitutional Fund. That bill cleared Parliament. In October of 2013, it cleared Parliament. In 2014 March, it was supposed to come finally to the Lok Sabha for approval. And then March, the elections took place. And it never came back again. It just never came back again. And the BJP was supporting it. And I am there after nothing else. Because all the babus have crushed it. The babus who run DGCA, who run the Aviation Ministry, don't want it. And that is where it needs to be changed. We need to have structural change in the DGCA. We need to have structural change in the AALP. We need to have the Ministry of Civil Aviation differ. These are my key factors. And to answer your point, with AI, GPS spoofing, we are not prepared to handle this. Because we are not even technically savvy enough within those organisations. So, we need to do a lot more. Because we are going to be the third largest market in the world. And we need greater development. Unfortunately, we are still using 60- and 70-year-olds or 55-year-olds in the DGCA to handle all this stuff. And in the Ministry, when should we be having 30-year-olds who know what this stuff is.

Interviewer: Coming to drones, Recent conflicts have demonstrated the destructive potential of inexpensive drones. Like the Iran war we have seen. Should India's civil airports now treat drones as a primary security threat rather than just a niche threat?

Sanjay Lazar: I think it's not only airports in India or civilian airports. I think all airports of India, civilian, military, whatever, even airfields. Government has to regulate the drones stricter. And in this, I do believe more than the Civil Aviation Ministry, you need to create a ministry or an organisation which is jointly run by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the military, the Air Force. Because the threat posed is so huge. And if it's unregulated, now we are trying to regulate our drones, but people smuggle stuff in. You know, you could do anything anywhere. You have seen how they carry missiles, how they carry armaments. It's a very, very difficult thing. And I think it's outside the scope and the ability of the Civil Aviation Ministry. We need to get actually a drone ministry or a drone subset. It's that important. It's that important. Forget the airport.

I might do it way before the airport in the landing path of an aircraft. What do you do then? How can you attack? Let's say Delhi airport. If I went two miles down the road, there is no protection there. It's just open right there. It's very vulnerable. Therefore, India needs to have stronger security in this aspect.

Interviewer: Got it. Coming to West Asia, the instability in West Asia continues to disrupt air routes and air force lines and continues to disrupt air routes. How should India balance commercial aviation interests by balancing passenger safety?

Sanjay Lazar: I am of the view that, and I said this in various business channels and stuff that I appear on. I speak a lot on this. I said this at the beginning of the year before the conflict had broken out that two quarters of hell is what we are going to face. If the West Asia air routes are closed, the government should by now have worked out a strategy either with China or Southeast Asia. See, the target is US or Europe. You cannot go to the US or Europe without going over West Asia. What I feel is essential is we need to ensure that we don't compromise on security just to manage the economics of an airline. Stop them from flying. It's okay. What does the US do? The US doesn't fly over Russia all these years because they cannot risk passenger safety. Therefore, this is something that has to be done. Air India or Indigo cannot fly over it. That would be more expensive. It is more expensive. It is more expensive to go. Because today what's happening, we were going south to Saudi Arabia and then coming up or going to Africa and then going straight up to go to Europe. It adds a couple of hours of flying time. I recently flew to UK and back and to Paris and back and Amsterdam. So, I've seen the longer flying time. Because it takes more fuel, some landing because technical halt. You can't go to New York. So, Air India was stopping at Rome and then going. So, additional costs. But safety in aviation is paramount. Aircraft and passenger safety. And therefore, if the West Asia crisis is going to disrupt and you cannot find an alternate route through China or Southeast Asia or South Asia, Southwest Asia, Africa, then scrap the route. It's okay. Let's find some intermediary carrier. Because we have this problem. Because we can't overfly Pakistan. Remember that. Had Pakistan been open, we could have gone straight through. But we can't. Whereas British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, all of them come through Pakistan. We can't. That's the thing.

Chakra Desk

Chakra News is a specialised digital media platform committed to in-depth coverage of India’s defence, national security, geopolitics, and critical technologies.