'Masood can come to Pak.'

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, JAN. 4. Masood Azhar, a Harkat-ul-Mujahideen cleric who regularly propagated global ``jehad'', can return home if his Pakistani identity is established, a Pakistan military spokesman has said. Azhar was released on Friday along with two other militants for the freedom of the hostages aboard a hijacked Indian Airlines plane.

``He has a right to come back to Pakistan but only if he is the genuine one. He has not committed any offence,'' Brigadier Rashid Qureshi, chief of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate, was quoted as saying in Karachi on Monday.

``Nobody knows whether the gentleman who was released was Maulana Masood Azhar or not. Afghans don't, the Pakistanis have not seen him. One needs to establish the identity of the hijackers and of the Maulana,'' Brigadier Qureshi said.

`Diversionary tactics'

In a related development, the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar, has alleged that the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee's demand that Pakistan be declared a ``terrorist state'' was intended to divert domestic attention from the IA plane hijack.

``The Indian Premier's statement also points to a preconcieved objective of building a strategic relationship with the United States on trumped-up charges of terrorism against Pakistan,'' Mr. Sattar was quoted as telling the official APP news agency.

``In doing so, India no doubt wants world opinion to ignore India's abhorrent record of state terrorism,'' Mr. Sattar said.

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