India points accusing finger at Pakistan

NEW DELHI (NNI): India Saturday pointed an accusing finger at Pakistan, saying that the hijackers and the three Mujahideen released to obtain freedom of the plane hostages had gone to Quetta in Pakistan after the Afghanistan ruling Taliban gavetem a 10-hour deadline to leave the country.

A day after securing the safe return of 161 passengers and crew, the Indian government vowed retribution to the plane hijackers, saying they had planned to blow up the aircraft with the hostages.

Indias External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh told journalists that the release of the freedom fighters in no way suggested that Indias stand against terrorism had weakened or India had become a "soft" state.

"The crime that has been committed by the hijackers should be retributed and justice sought. We will take all steps to bring them to justice," he asserted.

He was confident that the identity of the hijacker who stabbed to death one of the passengers, Rupin Katyal, the only casualty of the eight-day drama, could be established through de-briefing of passengers and crew.

The passengers and crew of the Indian Airlines plane, which was hijacked on Christmas eve while on a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi, were released late Friday after India handed over three out of 36 jailed Mujahideen the hijackers had demanded. The swap took place at Afghanistan's Kandahar airport where the plane had remained for seven of the eight days the drama lasted.

Singh said preliminary debriefing of the passengers and the crew had borne out the government's initial fears that "the aeroplane had indeed been readied for exploding along with the passengers and crew and the explosives were already on board the plane." "The blowing up of the plane was intended as soon as it was airborne," he said.

He said "I have received a statement from the Taliban Information Minister that the hijackers and the released prisoners had left for Quetta, capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province, from Kandahar." The Taliban did not want the terrorists on Afghan soil and had given them 10 hours to leave the country, he added.

He said that national interest and national honour had not diminished "by saving 161 lives and it is the commitment of the government to save every citizen". He reiterated that the Taliban authorities had cooperated with India throughout the episode and they had refused to accept the $25,000 per day parking charges that Kandahar airport normally charged international airlines. He also said that India did discuss with the Taliban a military option to end the hijack crisis but did not elaborate.

He however said that his visit to Kandahar did not amount to India granting recognition to the Taliban regime. New Delhis Afghan policy remained unchanged, he added. India recognises the exiled government of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani whose representative is the countrys ambassador in New Delhi.