No progress in talks, say Taliban

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec 28 (Reuters) — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban movement today said it saw little progress in talks between hijackers of an Indian Airlines jet and Indian negotiators. “The talks are in a medium condition, no progress has been made so far,” Taliban foreign minister Abdul Wakil Muttawakil told a news conference at Kandahar airport where the Airbus-300 has been parked since Saturday morning.

An unidentified Indian official (L) speaks on a satellite phone with his superiors in New Delhi about the latest developments in negotiations with the hijackers of the Indian Airlines jet in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Tuesday. — AFP photo

He said the Taliban was not fully aware of the details of the negotiations taking place between the cockpit of the plane in which Indian negotiators arrived yesterday and the hijacked plane.

“The wish of Afghans and all the people is a quick resolution of this crisis,” he said. “The Taliban leadership insists that there should be no shedding of innocent blood.’’

Mr Muttawakil was speaking this evening almost 24 hours after negotiations began between the Indian team and the hijackers, holding 155 people hostage.

“The crisis resembles a lock whose one key is held by the Indians and the other by the hijackers. Someone has to open this lock,” he said.

He said the condition of the hostages on the fifth day of their ordeal was poor and the Taliban was particularly concerned about sick people on board.

Mr Muttawakil also said the Taliban was not interested in dealing with the hijackers once the crisis was over.

“We are not interested in trying them in Afghanistan, since they were not Afghans. We will hand them over to the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross),” he added.

One of the hijackers could be seen outside the aircraft. It was thought to be the first time a hijacker has left the plane since the ordeal started.

Services chiefs meet PM
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 28— The three defence chiefs today met the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, and made their services available, if there was need for them to be involved in the crucial Crisis Management Group (CMG) handling the hijacking crisis. The meeting, called at the initiative of the Prime Minister, lasted 30 minutes.

The official version of the meeting between the three defence chiefs and the Prime Minister as given to the media was “in view of the current developments, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee held a meeting with the services chiefs.”

"General V.P. Malik, Air Chief Marshal A.Y. Tipnis and Admiral Sushil Kumar met Mr Vajpayee at his residence. Mr Vajpayee reviewed the current security situation in the country with the services chiefs," Mr H.K.Dua, the media adviser to the Prime Minister, said.

At present, the armed forces are kept out of the CMG. This matter also cropped up during the talks, according to reliable sources. The services chiefs are understood to have stressed the need for the involvement of the defence forces in tackling such crisis situations having a bearing on the country's security.

The armed forces were said to be unhappy that they were not called upon to tackle the situation at Amritsar when Army commandos could have been deployed at the airport within minutes. This could have also led to the plane not taking off from Amritsar to Lahore.

Incidentally, despite this major crisis which the country was facing, the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, had not been attending the Cabinet Committee on Security meetings. He was away in the North East.

Who ordered refuelling at Amritsar?
By P.P.S. Gill
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 28 —While the entire focus at the moment is on negotiations between the hijackers and Indian officials at Kandahar, nearer at home the intelligence agencies are engaged in tracking down one J. Lall, say top government sources.

On the day the hijacked airbus landed at Rajasansi Airport, Amritsar, the Director of Airport Authority there, Mr V.S. Mulekar, received two contradictory messages on refuelling of the plane, whose engines kept running at the hijackers’ diktat.

A person identifying himself as J. Lall, an official at the Ministry of Home Affairs, called up Mr Mulekar asking him to refuel the aircraft. Without ascertaining the identity of the caller, Mr Mulekar instructed Indian Oil Corporation to do the needful, ordering an oil tanker to proceed.

On the other hand, sources say, instructions were received by Mr Mulekar from the Director, National Airports Authority of India, New Delhi, to delay refuelling of the plane, probably, to enable officials to buy time so as to ensure that National Security Guards (NSG) commandos reach Amritsar.

The tanker was moved to the aircraft at the bidding of the pilot under threat from the hijackers. The District Magistrate, Mr Narinderjit Singh, present there issued no instructions on refuelling nor were such instructions given by either the national or the Chandigarh-based crisis management group (CMG).

The group in Chandigarh comprises Punjab’s Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Director-General of Police and the head of the intelligence outfit.

The sources, therefore, say that the intelligence agencies have now begun to track down the caller, J. Lall, and the cellphone used for not only calling up Rajasansi Airport but even the Air Traffic Control in New Delhi. The inference drawn is simple: the hijackers while in India were having ground support and backup indicating that the entire hijack episode had wider ramifications. It was well planned and executed. A person impersonating as an official of the Ministry of Home Affairs had the telephone numbers of key officials and was monitoring the situation.

Following that night’s incident there have been adverse comments on the manner the situation was handled. What has surprised the police and political administration is the criticism by two former Directors-General of Police, Mr K.P.S. Gill and Mr PC Dogra, who once headed the same force whose men were again engaged in a delicate task.

In fact what Mr K. Subrahmanyam, the defence analyst, has told Star TV in the light of the hijack incident, is valid. While refusing to comment merely on media reports of what happened in Amritsar on December 24, he cautioned that India had to remember that its next-door neighbour was a terrorist state ever ready to hurt India. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence has already masterminded the killing of over 20,000 Indians in recent times.

He chided the government when asked about the existence of contingency plans to deal with similar emergencies by saying that in India even routine plans did not work.

Whether there is a probe or not into what happened and how it happened at Amritsar, the Punjab Government has documented a blow-by-blow account after it was informed of the hijacking.