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Indo-Pak : Islamabad asked to extradite hijackers

	January 17, 2000

The Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi,Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs on Jan. 15, to be sternly told by Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh to quickly apprehend the five hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane, if it has not already done so, and extradite them to India for trial. External Affairs Ministry spokesman in his briefing on the meeting said later that there was strong ground to believe the hijackers were currently in Pakistan which was obliged to take action against them under various international conventions. The Government of India reserved the right to take further measures as appropriate”, the envoy was told. At what was described as the first official contact with Pakistan since the hijacking which ended on the New Year eve when India handed over three Kashmiri Islamic militants in return for about 160 hostages, Mr. Qazi was told that Pakistan had legal obligation under the 1972 Indo-Pak Simla Agreement “to prevent the organisation, assistance or encouragement of any acts detrimental to the maintenance of peaceful and harmonious relations and also to prevent hostile propaganda.”



India’s stern reminder to Pakistan came on the same day that visiting US and British delegations in Islamabad privately asked Gen. Musharraf to ban the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, already designated a terrorist outfit by the Clinton Administration.



The public position taken by Pakistan is that it is unaware about the whereabouts of the hostages. Although the three militants and the five hostages left together from Kandahar airport in the vehicles provided by the Taliban on Dec. 31, and the Taliban gave them ten hours notice, two of the three militants surfaced in Pakistan but the hijackers remain underground. One of the three released militants, Maulana Masood Azhar, said on arrival in Karachi that after travelling together for some time, the five hijackers told them goodbye and said they were returning to Kashmir. But, then from Kandahar, the only road led to the Pakistani city of Quetta in Baluchistan rather than Kashmir. Even if they had intended to go for Pak-occupied Kashmir before crossing into the Indian administered Kashmir, they could not do so before stepping into Pakistan. According to Indian assessment, they are keeping a low profile at Pakistan’s behest because Pakistan will then be obliged under the Hague and Montreal conventions against the hijacking and backed by the US, India would build up pressure for their extradition. So, Pakistan has said, they would be arrested if they crossed the Pakistan border and put on trial. But, the question is who is going to see whether they have been allowed to cross and melt away in Pakistan. Pakistan is taking advantage of the fact that all through the week-long hijacking drama, the hijackers kept their faces hidden behind the monkey caps and addressed each other by code names like chief, Doctor, Burger, Shankar and Bhola. Pakistan says India has not provided them any profile of these hijackers and so they are unable to launch a search for them.



After their release, while Azhar surfaced first in Karachi and then in Bahawalpur, the second militant released, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, whose family, including his mother still lives in Srinagar, appeared in Muzaffarabad capital of Pak-occupied Kashmir. Mr. Zargar, founder of the terrorist outfit, Al-Omar, was given a hero’s welcome by members of his group. But, the third militant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who also holds a British passport is thought to be in Pakistan, has not appeared in public. He may return to his father in London now that the British Government has clarified that since he was not convicted, he was free to return and no action would be taken against him. Sheikh had been arrested in Delhi on Oct 31, 1994 on the charge of kidnapping three British nationals and an American from a hotel in Paharganj in Delhi.



Although only a cleric and ideologue of Harkat-ul-Ansar Maulana Azhar, who never lifted a gun to kill anyone, is considered the most dangerous of the three released militants. He makes fiery speeches and arouse emotions of the young people against India. Audio Cassettes of many of his speeches have reached India and a Maulvi in Himachal Pradesh has been arrested distributing his cassettes called “Jehad” and “Babari Masjid Ki Pukar”. They have also been clandestinely played in UP, Bihar and various parts of Jammu and Kashmir.



It is alleged that the entire hijacking drama was enacted for the release of Maulana Azhar, because the first demand which came from the hijackers was only for his release. The other demands were added later. This is because the leader of the hijackers was the brother of the cleric Maulana Azhar, although Azhar and his father, Allah Baksh, have insisted that Ibrahim had gone to Saudi Arabia to perform umra. However, the Taliban Foreign Minister Mutawakkil gave a lie to their claim when in an interview in the Pushto service of BBC on Dec. 25, the day the hijacked plane landed in Kandahar, disclosed that one of the desperadoes was Ibrahim.



India’s Home Minister L.K. Advani, at a press conference last week released pictures of the five hijackers together with their detailed profile and their Pakistani nationality to prove Pakistan’s involvement. The Indian intelligence agencies had obtained the names and pictures of the hijackers from four Harkat-ul-Ansar operatives in Mumbai while negotiations were on to break the standoff at Kandahar. The five Pakistanis were identified as Ibrahim Athar (hailing from Bahawalpur) and said to be the brother of Maulana Masood Azhar, one of the three militants released, Shahid Akhtar Sayed [Gulshan Iqbal locality in Karachi], Sunni Ahmed Qazi of Defence Colony, Karachi, Misri Azhoor Ibrahim of Akhtar Colony Karachi and Shakir of Sukkur City in Sindh. Mr. Advani also traced their two month long plan to prepare for the hijacking during which they made several trips to Kathmandu with the help of their four accomplices arrested in Bombay. Pakistan, however, termed Mr. Advani’s claim about the five hijackers as Pakistanis to be “a manufactured evidence” and part of continuing propaganda campaign of false accusations against that country.



Mr. Advani had claimed that the arrest of the four accomplices of the hijackers in Mumbai - two Pakistanis, a Nepali and an Indian - came after a cell phone conversation was intercepted by the intelligence agencies during which a message was being passed to one Abdul Latif by a Pak-based associate of the hijackers.



It is now learnt that this message was actually intercepted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI which then tipped the Indian intelligence agencies. The FBI accidentally happened to intercept the message when their spy satellite was keeping an eye on the goings on by the Taliban in Kandhahar, headquarters of the Taliban chief, Mullah Omar, and elsewhere in Afghanistan. The tip-off led to a nondescript housing colony in Jogeshwari in suburban Mumbai and a raid on a flat there led to the arrest of four ISI agents and nine other operatives including a woman in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane. It has also led to the realization that Pakistan’s inroads into Maharashtra’s capital run far deeper than was feared. The raid on the flat at the Golden Soil housing colony in Jogeshwari revealed that the ISI agents had been communicating with the hijackers over cellular phones and had earlier arranged for Indian passports for two of them with the help of forged documents.



Some reports meanwhile say, the five hijackers after having entered Pakistan has returned to Afghanistan following US pressure on the Pervez Musharraf Government. Although the US has rejected India’s call to declare Pakistan a terrorist State,Washington had warned Islamabad last week that it would be held responsible for Masood Azhar’s activities and it would not rest until the hijackers were nabbed. Initial reports had said that after the Kandahar trade-off on Dec. 31, the hijackers first took refuge in a training camp at Quetta where the military headquarters of Baluchistan is located. Two days later, they were reported to have moved from Quetta to Zhob, a small town lose to Baluchi capital. They are now reported to have returned to Afghanistan and Home Ministry sources in New Delhi suggest that Pakistan may have advised them to leave their territory for the time being and shift to somewhere in Afghanistan which is less accessible to western intelligence agencies. The officials feel the air pirates could be enjoying protection from the Taliban which may have played a key role in the hijack.



That Taliban was hand and gloves with Pakistan in the hijacking has been proved beyond doubt. It did not catch the hijackers and instead allowed them to go after committing heinous crime in a country where even a petty crime like trimming beards attracts heavy punishment like public flogging. A Taliban when confronted with this question gave a strange explanation, saying, the hijackers were released because they did not want enmity with any country.



The connivance of the Taliban with Pakistan was proved when after the militants were released and the released passengers of the Indian Airlines were flown back to New Delhi in another relief plane leaving behind a team of officials to bring back the hijacked plane, the five hijackers who had left the airport with militants drove back in the same blue land Rover provided by the Taliban. Two hijackers again went into the cargo hold and with quiet precision, without wasting much time, identified the exact baggage container in which their cheked-in baggage was kept. They retrieved the suitcase and again drove back into darkness, leaving behind the so-called “Taliban hostage”. Gone waste gun which the hijackers had put to the head of the Taliban official - the brother of military commander, Akhtar Usmani - for the benefit of the world media at the end of the hijack. Instead, alarmed Indian airline officials found that the hijackers and their so-called hostage from the Taliban were joking and laughing among themselves. This made the Indians realized that the hijackers had not gone anywhere after releasing the hostages but had stayed back at the airport.



US rejects Indian call to declare Pak terrorist State



Despite the irrefutable circumstantial evidence of ISI’s hand in the hijacking drama, the US is not inclined to declare Pakistan a terrorist State, as demanded by Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee. A prominent Congressman Frank Pallone has said now is the time for the US and other major nations to blacklist Islamabad and the hijacking crisis is only the latest in a long series of incidents that point to Islamabad’s role in promoting violence and instability in the region. Mr. Pallone who said he will write a letter to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and may even draft legislation calling on the State Department to declare Pakistan a terrorist State, said, credible reports from Indian and other sources dictate that Pakistan’s backing of the separatist movement in Kashmir goes far deeper than its professed “political and moral support” for the insurgency. But, two other Congressmen, Sam Gejdenson and Sam Brownback, on their visit have indicated that the US would not be in all that hurry to consider India’s demand that Pakistan be declared a terrorist State. The Indian officials including Defence Secretary T.R. Prasad during their meetings with Mr. Brownback, complained that the US was taking the soft line on Pakistan ignoring the various proofs of its involvement like the hijackers being the Pakistanis and the three released militants emerging in Pakistan as also the involvement of the Pakistan Embassy diplomats in Kathmandu in passing on the weapons to the hijackers at the airport. But, Mr. Brown explained that dubbing Pakistan a terrorist State would amount to loss of leverage in a State in which the US has invested so heavily for so many decades. A similar line was taken by another US Congressman Sam Gejdenson, a ranking Democrat on the Congressional Committee on international Relations. He said in New Delhi after meetings with the Prime Minister and other senior leaders in the Vajpayee Government on Jan. 9 that it is not so much a question of Pakistan’s alleged or real complicity in promoting terrorism as a matter of judgement that continued contact enables Washington to moderate the targeted country’s behaviour.



Pakistan itself complained to a four-member team of US Senators led by Mr. Tom Daschle, which visited Islamabad on Jan. 13 that India was unnecessarily dubbing Pakistan as a sponsor of the hijacking while it had no role in the incident. The delegation, which also met the military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf, tried to engage him on a host of issues including terrorism, a return to democracy, the CTBT and other US concerns.



That the US could not remain unconcerned with the fallout of the hijacking was clear from the call for a Jehad against the US given by a key militant, Maulana Masood Azhar, released by India in exchange for hostages. He was one of the three militants freed by India as part of the exchange deal. Addressing a gathering of his supporters on return to first Karachi and then to his hometown in Bahawalpur, he gave a call for jehad to destroy the US and India. Washington made a strong complaint to Pakistan and asked it to restraint the Maulana from making such provocative statements. Pakistan immediately responded by warning the maulana against making such provocative statements. Also, following the US warning, a Foreign Ministry statement said on Jan. 11, Pakistan would not allow the use of its territory for acts of terrorism. In a Zee TV programme in London, the Pakistan High Commissioner there, Dr. Akbar Ahmed, admitted that the statement of Maulana Azhar calling for destruction of the US will not help its image in the world. Maulana Azhar, himself has denied having issued any call for jehad against the United States and said reports to this effect were not true.



While Maulana Azhar is no longer targeting the US he continues to spew venom against India, he has owed to recruit half a million men to fight Indian rule in kashmir. He told a huge gathering at an ID ceremony that the force would be recruited from all over Pakistan although he did not give details. Again in a BBC interview, he demanded international mediation to settle the Kashmir dispute arguing that India and Pakistan had failed in their quest for a bilateral solution. He alleged that “terrorism” perpetrated by India was responsible for the hijacking of the Indian airlines plane.



CBI enquiry



Following Home Minister Advani’s direction to unravel the hijack conspiracy, the Central Bureau of investigation [CBI] has set up a special investigation team [SIT] with a focus to obtain clinching evidence on Pakistan’s role in the hijacking. It would probe into the lapses leading to the hijacking of the Indian Flight IC-814 as well as other aspects of the episode including the role of Pakistan’s spy agency, ISI in masterminding the hijacking. The CBI team headed by M.L.Sharma, is likely to visit Amritsar, Kathmandu and Dubai in search of evidence on Pakistan’s suspected role in the eight-day ordeal. It would also coordinate with other agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau and the National Security Guard. It will also look into the mysterious telephone call by one “G. Lal”, who, claiming to be a Home Ministry official, had asked the Amritsar airport authorities to refuel the aircraft. The probe team would also examine the possible link of the underworld operators with the hijacking.



Meanwhile, the Delhi police has registered a case at the Indira Gandhi International Airport of hijacking as well as murder against the Pakistani terrorists. The FIR has been registered under sections 120-B, 342, 365, 395, 302, 307 Indian Penal Code, alleging commission of offences of criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement, kidnapping, decoity, murder and attempt to murder.



Meanwhile, Indian Airlines flight to Nepal continue to remain suspended and the Civil Aviation Minister, Sharad yadav has categorically said, the flights would not be resumed to Kathmandu unless foolproof security was ensured.



Nepal too has set up an enquiry committee headed by former police Inspector General, Hem Bahadur Singh, which has been asked to complete the report within two weeks.



Meanwhile, a senior official in Kathmandu has been quoted as saying that there are fears of the ISI striking back after being exposed in the hijacking case. Pakistan is taking advantage of the liberal laws in Nepal and the unprotected border between India and Nepal, he said. The Indian ambassador to Nepal, K.V. Rajan, says that the ISI network in Nepal is quite strong and it would be natural for hostile forces to misuse the open border and send across unfriendly elements, arms and other sensitive items.



Nepal is the preferred location for the ISI for several reasons: The general security is lax; anonymity is assured because of the high tourist turnover, high incidence of corruption at Tribhuvan international airport allows free flow of illegal freight, the porous border offers easy access to various strategically vital points on the Indian mainland, Nepal offers an alternate upland route via India, for militants to enter the Kashmir valley when the higher reaches across the PoK border are snowbound, it has a border with Bihar which is poorly policed, it opens up the possibility of linking u with Mumbai’s underworld, smuggling, a way of life along the Indo-Nepal border, offers ready made channels of transit, unemployed youth in Nepal and Bihar’s border districts are easily susceptible to money and Indian customs police checkposts are virtually dysfunctional.



It is notable that even though Nepal is a tiny country offering little scope for a big trade, the Pakistan embassy in Kathmandu has 25 registered diplomats excluding the Nepalese support staff and Pakistanis without diplomatic privileges. Such a massive Pakistani diplomatic presence could not be trade. These diplomats are not trade counsellors, nor are there massive trade links between the two countries. Nor could it be justified for cultural exchanges between an increasingly fundamentalistic Islamic military dictatorship and the world’s only Hindu kingdom. In fact, majority of them are ISI operatives using Nepal as a springboard for terrorism in India. Sources say, fourteen of the Pakistani diplomats in its Embassy in Kathmandu are ISI operatives. One of them, Asam Saboor, was arrested and expelled by the Nepalese authorities after they discovered that he was circulating forged Indian currency. Two others, Arshad Cheema and Zia Ansari, went to the departure lounge of Kathmandu airport on Christmas eve and handed over a package to a passenger on the Indian Airlines. Cheema and Ansari used diplomatic immunity to bypass the security checks at the airport.



That ISI has been using Nepal to stage its operations against India for long has come into notice many times. In 1991, a consignment of sophisticated walkie talkies was seized from the Tribhuvan international airport. The radios were part of a consignment of the North Korean Embassy. Senior police officials allege that following the seizure, the then second secretary of North Korea in Kathmandu had told the police that the radios were supposed to be handed over to Pervez Afzal, then a diplomat of Pakistan in Nepal. Intelligence reports suggest that Parvez had met several Punjab and Kashmir militants in Nepal and functioned directly from the Pakistan Embassy. Investigations have also revealed that the bomb blast in Lajpat Nagar, in New Delhi, in 1996 was planned in Kathmandu. Chief of Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front, Bilal Ahmed beg, also got assistance of Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu. Col. Farooq and Tiger Menon had provided the logistics for the Bombay blasts from Kathmandu. The Chief Commander of Al0-Inquilab, a group owing allegiance to Kashmir Liberation front during his interrogation, is alleged to have said that he had been asked to contact the Pak Embassy in Kathmandu for necessary travel documents, money and arms. The hand-on role of Pakistan’s embassy there too came to light last September, when militant Lakhbir Singh was arrested with 5 kg of RDX from a Kathmandu hotel by the Nepal police. The explosives were neatly packed in the “diplomatic bag” of Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu and were meant to be transported to selected places in India. Again last month, one Jatendra Singh and five members of his gang were arrested in Patna with a huge consignment of fake Indian currency. During interrogation, Singh confessed he used to make regular trips to Kathmandu where he was suppled with fake notes by an ISI agent from Karachi, Mohammed Akram.



The ISI is also taking advantage of the Indian underworld’s presence in Nepal. Many underworld operators, including Dawood Ibrahim’s gang members, fled to the Himalayan kingdom in the wake of the Mumbai blasts of March, 1993 and have set up smuggling operations there. The ISI engages these people to carry sophisticated weapons, explosives and narcotic to India and enroll criminals and unemployed youth into its ranks. As a senior Bihar official said, Pakistan’s modus operandi is to infiltrate ISI agents through the international border at Nepal. These agents then find anti-socials, criminals and smugglers for destabilsing normal life in the State. What is also alarming from India is the involvement of some local politicians with the ISI’s gameplan in Bihar. Mirza Dilshad Beg, a former member of Nepal Parliament is said to have actively worked for the ISI. Though he was gunned down in Kathmandu last year, his men are still active in the region. Mohammed Taslmuddin, former Rashtriya Janata Dal from Kishanganj near the Nepal border, is another local leader suspected to have dealings with the ISI.