'They were unknown mujahids'

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, JAN. 6. All the three militants released by India on December 31, in exchange for the release of the hostages, have entered Pakistan. Masood Azhar, one of the released militants confirmed this in Karachi today. While Mushtaq Zargar has landed in Muzaffarabad, the whereabouts of Ahmed Umar Saeed Sheikh, a Pakistan-born British national, are not known.

While an AP report from Karachi quoted Azhar as saying at a press conference that he last saw the hijackers on the road from Kandahar heading towards Pakistan, other wire services did not provide this account.

Azhar, a hysterical anti-India militant, said the released militants and the five hijackers were together for 25 minutes in a vehicle that was heading for Pakistan. The hijackers then stopped the vehicle, released the Taliban ``hostage'', got into another vehicle and drove off.

Azhar, who claimed that Kashmir was part of Pakistan, alleged that the five hijackers were Indian nationals. Describing them as ``unknown mujahids'', he said these persons were ``fired with the spirit of jehad''.

``We only met with the hijackers briefly after release at the Kandahar airport...they were still masked and did not disclose their identity but said they were Indian nationals and planned to go back to India...'' the militant was quoted as saying.

Accusing India of ``sponsoring'' terrorism and being a ``terrorist State'', the militant said a ``response'' such as the hijacking could happen any where, any time. Calling upon all ``civilised nations'' to solve the Kashmir issue, he said if they could not do anything then they should stop criticising the hijacking action. Kashmir, he said, was the main issue behind the hijack.

Azhar, who was a Harkat-ul-Ansar ideologue when he was arrested in India in 1994, claimed that the hijackers did not even once cast a covetous glance at the women aboard the hijacked plane while the Indian security forces were ``raping'' Kashmiri women.

``Please consider whether this or the hijacking is a greater crime,'' Azhar said at the press conference, where he was surrounded by armed guards. No photographs were allowed.

Demanding that India should release all Kashmir- related detainees from its jails, he said New Delhi should also withdraw troops from Kashmir and then take the initiative to hold talks with Pakistan to resolve the issue.

``I appeal to the Government of Pakistan to stick to its stand that till India solves the Kashmir issue, there should be no talks on (trading) dal, sugar, potatoes and tomatoes with India,'' Azhar said. He appreciated the recent Kashmir-first stand taken by Pakistan's military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

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