Minister had named the same three militants

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 31. It is indeed a strange coincidence that the three militants released by the Government in exchange for the freedom of the hostages are the very same the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mr. Chaman Lal Gupta, had indicated a day after the hijack.

The coincidence is significant as the Prime Minister has claimed that while the hijackers had demanded the release of 36 terrorists, the Government was able to ``substantially scale down their demand''.

Quoting an unidentified caller at the Air Traffic Controller in Delhi, the Minister had announced on the morning of the second day of the hijack drama that the hijackers had demanded the release of the Pakistani cleric, Maulana Masood Azhar, the U.K.- based Pakistani national, Mustaq Ahmad Zargar and a third militant whose ``name was not audible''.

Mr. Gupta told correspondents outside the Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, from where the Crisis Management Group (CMG) was functioning, that the unidentified caller had said he was speaking on behalf of the Islamic Salvation Front.

The Minister was quoted extensively by the television networks and the news agencies throughout the day till a visibly annoyed Foreign Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, stated that ``it is not wise to respond to anonymous calls which can not be traced and which have no lineage''.

It is believed that the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B.Vajpayee, was angry with Mr. Gupta for making unauthorised statements after which the junior Civil Aviation Minister carefully stayed away from the media.

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Section  : National
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