Taliban deny hijackers entry into Pakistan

The Nation

The Taliban spokesman, Maulana Abdul Hai Mutmain has said that the hijackers of the Indian Airlines Airbus, the hijacking drama of which ended on Friday last week, have left Afghanistan and denied strongly that they have entered Pakistan, reported BBC on Sunday.
"The five hijackers and three people freed by India were given 10 hours to leave Afghanistan and they are now no more in Afghanistan but have not entered Pakistan," he said.
According to the PTV, an official spokesman for the Afghan Information Ministry Maulana Muhammad Yaqub dismissed as baseless reports attributed to Afghan Information Minister Maulvi Qudratullah Jamal that the hijackers had gone to Quetta. He told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that this was an entirely fabricated and unfounded report which had been attributed to the Minister for Information.
During the whole hijacking drama Maulvi Qudratullah had not been present either in Kabul or Kandahar but had gone to Herat for some official work, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, BBC said: "It has become a mystery as to where the hijackers have gone as the Taliban say they have left Afghanistan and the Pakistani authorities say they have not entered Pakistan."
"Three days after the ending of the hijacking of the Indian plane in Kandahar, it is still not clear what has happened to the hijackers and that mystery has led to a rising tension between India and Pakistan," it maintained.
The Indian authorities agreed to free three Kashmiri Mujahideen from jails in order to secure the release of the passengers. Now India believes "they have crossed over into Pakistan on their way to Azad Kashmir".
While talking to BBC, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said there was no doubt that the hijackers were now in Pakistan and that India would take 'unspecified' action at an appropriate time.
While talking to BBC, Pakistani Interior Minister, however, dismissed as baseless Jaswant's assertion, saying that if any of the hijackers tried to enter the country, they would be arrested. He said the security at the Pakistan-Afghan border had been beefed up and the border security forces had been put on high alert to stop the hijackers crossing from Afghanistan following orders by the Afghan government that they should leave the country.
He further said Pakistan wanted to play it due role for global peace and that was why it had adopted an attitude of a responsible country. He said Pakistan strongly opposed any type of terrorism including the hijacking of the planes. He said Pakistan was committed to upholding international rules and conventions and that border officials had been told to arrest the hijackers if they did try to cross into Pakistan.
But, said BBC, the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was so long and the presence of the border security forcers is not everywhere that it was very easy to cross it and if the hijackers did want to cross into Pakistan, they could do this.
It further said there was another important thing to note that the faces of the hijackers were covered when they left Kandahar and no one had seen their faces, therefore it was easy for them to hide themselves anywhere.
According to ANN, Afghan Foreign Minister Mulla Wakeel Ahmed Mutawakkil told newsmen that Pakistan would not allow the hijackers to cross the border.
According to NNI, the Quetta administration on Sunday made it clear that no hijacker had so far entered Pakistani territory and if any of the hijackers tried to enter Pakistan, he would be arrested and tried in accordance with the international laws. The administration said it was not the responsibility of Pakistan to determine as to where the hijackers had gone.
In an interview, Balochistan Home Secretary Sheharyar Khan asked "Why were the hijackers not identified in Afghanistan?" He said now Pakistan was being blamed without any justification.
He further said "Neither has any hijacker so far entered Quetta, nor has the Interior Ministry allowed them to cross from Pakistan."
Shahzada Zulfiqar adds from Quetta: The rumours about the hijackers being in Quetta are rife.
Soon after leaving the plane and receiving their three men, whose release they had demanded from the Indian government the hijackers had left Kandahar Airport on Friday evening in a white ambulance with the brother of Corps Commander Kandahar Maulvi Akhtar Muhammad Usmani for an unknown destination. However, after an hour's drive, they left the Afghan leader who were held by the hijackers at gunpoint as guarantor.
The Taliban leaders, who condemned the hijacking, brokered a deal with the help of the United Nations representative for Afghanistan as part of their efforts to show the world, especially the West, that they are against terrorist activities.
The arrival of the Indian Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, at Kandahar Airport from New Delhi, his dialogue with the hijackers leader and handing over and taking over of the plane and the three Mujahideen leaders were the events which happened within even less than an hour.
The the media wizards and Indian government as well as its TV channel the Zee News, who are involved in a war propaganda against Pakistan, dragging her in hijacking drama are establishing their opinions that the hijackers entered Pakistan via Chaman, the nearest border town from Kandahar on the basis of presumption.
The hijackers, who were given 10 hours to leave Afghanistan might have gone to Iran and Pakistan's tribal areas, where apparently they have staunch supporters of Harkatul Ansar and other groups whose members are taking part in armed struggle against Indian forces in Held Kashmir.