Pakistan assures United States hijackers to be brought to justice

Frontier Post

SHEPHERDSTOWN (AFP) - Pakistan has assured the United States that it will act in compliance with international aviation agreements and arrest the hijackers of an Indian Airlines jet should they be found on its soil, a US official said Monday.
"Pakistan has told us that it will meet its obligations under the international convention to apprehend the hijackers and bring them to justice," State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters.
His comments came as tension between India and Pakistan mounted over the incident with officials in both capitals accusing each other of promoting terrorism.
Rubin said Washington was not aware of the current location of the hijackers but called for any country having information on their whereabouts to act appropriately.
"We continue to work with countries in the region, we think they must be brought to justice to remind all countries of their international obligations associated with the convention on hijacking," Rubin said.
"We continue to urge in the strongest possible terms that any and all states involved take action to ensure that the hijackers are prosecuted, or extradite the hijackers to a place where they can apprehended and prosecuted."
"The authorities (in Pakistan) have told us that they condemn these acts of terrorism and that they will meet their obligation to apprehend the hijackers and bring them to justice."
Another AFP report from New Delhi said that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Tuesday claimed India had "enough evidence" of Pakistan's alleged involvement in the hijacking of an Indian plane.
"We have enough evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the hijacking of the Indian Airlines aircraft and we will disclose it at the appropriate time," Vajpayee told reporters.
"We will try to get hijackers from there (Pakistan) for trial," Vajpayee said.
He said the government was also in touch with authorities in Nepal on the issue of security lapses at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, the departure point of Indian Airlines' IC-814 which was hijacked on Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry spokesman also called on Pakistan to apprehend and try five hijackers of an Indian plane.
"Under international law, Pakistan is obliged to act in respect to what happens on its soil or territory controlled by it, even though illegally," the spokesman said when asked if Pakistan was still duty-bound if the hijackers had sneaked into held Kashmir.
The spokesman said Indian authorities were trying to ascertain from "various sources" the whereabouts of the hijackers.