Hijack handling inept: CWC

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 6. The Congress(I) Working Committee met this evening and passed a resolution severely criticising the Government's ``most inept'' handling of the hijacking crisis, and warning that the Government had seriously compromised the security of the nation by releasing three hardcore terrorists.

The CWC urged the Government to disclose all relevant facts and information about the hijacking. The Congress(I) president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, presided over the 90-minute long meeting.

The CWC also discussed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) question. Members were briefed by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, who, along with three other senior party leaders, had accompanied Ms. Gandhi to a briefing by the Prime Minister last month. After deliberations, it was decided that the CWC would ask the Government to state its position on all aspects of CTBT. After that, the CWC may meet again and take a final view.

The resolution on the hijacking put on record the party's grave concern at the way the Government handled the affair. While expressing relief at the release of the hostages, the CWC felt that freeing the three terrorists would undoubtedly give added encouragement to cross-border terrorism. The task of the security forces and police would be all the more difficult now.

The Government's failure to resolve the matter at Amritsar came in for strong condemnation. The resolution stated that it reflected the Government's ``total incompetence'' in handling a sensitive situation that involved the nation's security.

(Briefing the media later, Mr. Mukherjee recalled that in 1984, the then Congress(I) Government had successfully managed a similar crisis, without making any compromises, when an Indian Airlines plane had been hijacked to Lahore. With the help of the Pakistani Government, a commando operation had been launched, the hijackers overpowered and the hostages released.)

The resolution questioned why respectability had been given to the terrorists by taking them in the same aircraft as the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh. It also noted that it was ``inexplicable why the External Affairs Minister went to Kandahar at all when the negotiations were over and the Minister had no role to play there''.

No resolution on CTBT

There was no resolution on the CTBT, but the CWC deliberated on all aspects of the matter, including the effectiveness of the treaty itself after the U.S. Senate had refused to ratify it.

Mr. Mukherjee observed that the future of the CTBT depended on the U.S. as it was the largest nuclear power in the world with 48 per cent of the world's nuclear weapons. Of the total 2,047 nuclear tests, the U.S. alone had conducted 1,032. The CWC noted that the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, had articulated the Government's position on the CTBT in September and December 1998.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Sajjan Kumar acquitted
Next     : CBI to probe IA hijacking case