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India accuses Pakistan over hijack
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planeThe Indian Airlines plane was grounded at Kandahar



BBC News
The Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has accused Pakistan of being behind the recent hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Afghanistan with 155 people on board.



Hijack Special Report







"All the information now available with the government about the hijack and the subsequent developments makes it clear that it was an integral part of the Pakistan-backed campaign of terrorism," Mr Vajpayee said in a statement.

Mr Vajpayee also called for Pakistan to be declared a "terrorist state."

"Pakistan's active and sustained role in fomenting terrorism in India is now too obvious to be any longer overlooked by the international community," he said.

The hijack ended last Friday after India agreed to release three pro-Kashmiri militants in return for the passengers and crew.
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"It was an integral part of the Pakistan-backed campaign of terrrorism



Atal Behari Vajpayee



Earlier, India's National Security Advisor, Brajesh Mishra, India's National Security advisor, said that Indian intelligence services had intercepted several radio conversations between militant groups in Kashmir which confirmed that Pakistan was involved.

"It is clear it is a terrorist state," said Mr Mishra, of nuclear rival Pakistan. "The establishment backs terrorism."

Ordeal
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Armed with grenades, pistols and knives, hijackers seized Flight 814 some 40 minutes after it took off from Kathmandu, Nepal, on a scheduled flight to New Delhi, India, on Christmas Eve.

The plane made stops in India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates before landing in Afghanistan the next day.

The hostages were freed last Friday after being held for eight days at Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan.
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It is clear it is a terrorist state



Indian National Security Advisor, Brajesh Mishra on Pakistan



The five hijackers fled Kandahar leaving the airport with three Kashmiri militants who had been released from Indian jails in a deal to free the hostages.

Afghanistan's ruling Taleban militia gave the hijackers 10 hours to get out of the country.

They remained at large on Sunday, while India and Pakistan argued over their identities and their whereabouts.

India claims the five are Pakistani citizens who crossed back into their homeland from Afghanistan, and were near the south-western city of Quetta.

"We have the names of all the hijackers who are Pakistani and the list of militants they wanted to be released contained a majority of Pakistani nationals," said Mr Mishra.

History of tensions

The crisis raised tensions between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed countries that have fought three wars over the past half century.

Two of those wars were over Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of backing a decade-long insurgency in Kashmir, the Himalayan territory that is claimed by both countries.

Pakistan denies the charge and says it provides only moral support to the movement.

The five hijackers acted in support of militant Kashmiris fighting against Indian control of the Himalayan territory.
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Mushtaq Ahmed ZargarMushtaq Ahmed Zargar: One of the militants handed over to the hijackers



But Pakistan said the men were not Pakistani nationals, had not set foot on its territory, and would be apprehended if they did turn up.

"Under no circumstances will these persons be allowed to enter Pakistan," said the country's Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider. He said Pakistan was on "high alert" to prevent the hijackers from slipping across the border.

Mr Mishra claimed that in one of the messages intercepted by New Delhi - a discussion between members of two different separatist organisations - one man asked why the other had condemned the hijacking, saying that the hijackers were acting on the instructions of Pakistan.

He also said that an alleged refusal by Pakistan to accept some of the sick and injured passengers when the plane temporarily landed at Lahore, indicated Islamabad's complicity in the crisis.

"It is clear that Pakistan is showing enmity," said Mr Mishra, who is also Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's principal secretary. "As long as this enmity continues there can be no talks between us."

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