Pakistan supported hijackers, says US

JAN 26 2000

The Straits Times

Judgment comes after Gen Musharraf rebuffs American request to ban the terrorist group that is believed to be responsible for last month's hijack

WASHINGTON -- The United States now believes that a terrorist group supported by the Pakistani military was responsible for the hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet last month, a judgment that puts Pakistan at risk of being placed on Washington's list of nations that support terrorism, Clinton administration officials said.

The new military leader of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, rebuffed the request by administration officials to ban the group, Harkat ul-Mujahedeen, during a meeting in Islamabad last week, said senior officials.

Gen Musharraf was also asked to exert pressure on the Taleban government in Afghanistan, with which Pakistan has friendly relations, to expel Osama bin Ladin, who was implicated in the bombings of two US embassies in Africa, but no progress was made with this request either.

The conclusion that a terrorist group supported by Pakistan carried out the hijacking comes as the White House must make a decision in coming weeks about whether President Bill Clinton should visit Pakistan as part of his planned trip to India and Bangladesh at the end of March.

The visit to India is expected to be announced this week, with the option of a stopover in Pakistan still open, pending some gestures of cooperation by Pakistan, officials said.

Rejecting a presidential visit to Pakistan during a trip that includes a visit to India would be one of the severest snubs the White House could make, especially during the first presidential trip to the region in 21 years.

Officials said information that Harkat ul-Mujahedeen was responsible for the hijacking came in the aftermath of the seizure of the jet, when it became clearer who made arrangements for the escape of the hijackers.

Harkat ul-Mujahedeen is the new name for Harkat ul-Ansar, a radical Kashmiri nationalist group that was put on the State Department's list of terrorist groups in 1997, officials said.

The group changed its name after being added to the list.

Administration officials declined to give details of precisely what they knew about the group's role in the hijacking that ended with 155 hostages being freed in exchange for the release from prison of three members of Harkat ul-Mujahedeen by the Indian government. -- New York Times

What happened to Indian Airlines flight

FIVE hijackers, armed with grenades, pistols and knives, seized Indian Airlines Flight 814 about 40 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu, Nepal, on a scheduled flight to New Delhi. The plane made stops in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates before landing in Afghanistan.

The hijackers had demanded the release of 35 Islamic militants and the body of a dead cleric. But the Indians agreed to release only three, and flew them to Afghanistan, where they were exchanged quickly for the hostages.

None of the 155 hostages was harmed, but one passenger had been killed shortly after the crisis began on Dec 24.

After eight days, the hijackers walked off the plane and raced out of the airport in waiting cars as the ruling Taleban gave them a 10-hour deadline to leave the country or be forced out.