Taliban role lauded

RAWALPINDI (NNI): In their reaction to the drop scene of the Indian plane hijack crisis, the former military leaders of Pakistan lauded the Taliban role in tacking the situation, "they have scored a moral victory by adopting a positive attitude."

They however opined that the Taliban should keep the hijackers in their custody instead of handing them over to any other party "as the drama was staged by India itself."

Former army chief, general (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg said, "the hijackers did commit a crime, even if for the cause of freedom." He called upon the Taliban not to hand them to India.

He said also asked Pakistan not to let the hijackers enter its soil. "Hijacking is a horrendous crime, widely condemned at the international level," he maintained.

Former ISI chief general (retd) Hamid Gul said that betrayal was in Indias blood. "The Taliban role during the whole episode has established their moral superiority." He said that if the Kashmiris were behind the hijacking, the world powers including US and the United Nations should ponder that India has taken them (Kashmiris) hostage for the last 52 years, and immediate steps were needed to grant them freedom.

Hamid Gul praised the Taliban role as mediator, saying it averted bloodshed.

Chairman Ex-servicemen Society, lieutenant general (retd) Faiz Ali Chishti termed the hijacking as a premeditated step. "The hijackers were phony and the truth will unfold in future," he said.

He noted usually hijackers strictly adhere to their demands, but "these compromised on their demands, which indicates that the entire drama was engineered."

"On the one hand India does not recognise the Taliban government, and on the other the plane lands in Kandhar after brief stopovers at Lahore and Dubai," he skeptically noted.