Unfounded assumptions

Sir, - Mr. Prem Shankar Jha's article, ``Defeat at Kandahar'' (TheHindu, Jan. 3 and 4), is based on assumptions and so are his conclusions. Implicating Pakistan in the hostage crisis, ignoring the fact that the country provided the best medical treatment to Mr. Anil Khurana, one of the passengers aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft (acknowledged by Mrs. Khurana herself on PTV), is unjustified.

It is strange that the attitude of India was changing throughout the hijack crisis. First, the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, telephones his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad and seeks all possible cooperation in dealing with the situation. When Islamabad responds positively, the Minister, instead of thanking Pakistan, accuses it of being involved in the incident - the allegation of the hijackers hopping from a PIA flight to the IA Airbus in Kathmandu! All along, Pakistan did its best to bring the episode to a satisfactory end, which meant that the passengers and the crew were saved. But the Indians, instead of thanking Pakistan, are accusing it of terrorism.

Mr. Jha has even blamed the Taliban. He is myopic. Instead of lauding the Taliban for saving so many innocent lives, he is intent on calling it terrorist. Mr. Jha must have pointed out India's own security lapses and held its leaders accountable. His article suggests that he is in the good books of the BJP.

M. Navid Ahmed,

Islamabad

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