1971 hijacker Quereshi returns

By Nirnimesh Kumar

NEW DELHI, DEC. 29. Mohammed Hashmi Quereshi, an accused in the hijacking of a Fokker Friendship aircraft of the Indian Airlines in 1971, was arrested today by immigration authorities at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here. However, Mr. Quereshi told reporters that he had surrendered on his own.

The Jammu and Kashmir police had on Thursday informed the Foreigners Regional Registration Office to look out for Mr. Quereshi who was expected to arrive here from Holland. As Mr. Quereshi alighted from an SAS Airlines plane (SK-967) from Copenhagen, the immigration officials arrested him. Later, the IGIA police took him into custody.

PTI, UNI report

Pledging full support to the Centre's peace initiative in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Quereshi, a founding-member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in 1982, told reporters at the Patiala House courts, ``Main yahan Vajpayeeji ke peace initiative ki himayat karne aaya hoon'' (I have come here to support Mr. Vajpayee's peace initiative).

``We want an end to oppression and bloodshed in Kashmir, whoever be the victim... We want an independent Kashmir and that's why I am here,'' he said while being whisked away by police after the court remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.

The 46-year-old Mr. Quereshi - 17 at the time of the hijack - walked up to stunned police personnel and handed them over his passport and other travel documents. A special team of senior police officials from Srinagar is arriving tomorrow to take him to the Valley where a case of hijacking is registered against him in the Sadar police station.

Appeal to POK

Mr. Quereshi appealed to the people in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (POK) to launch a struggle for liberation from the forces which occupied it. ``The people in POK, Gilgit and Baltistan, who are dreaming of an independent Jammu and Kashmir, should launch a freedom struggle against the occupational forces there so that the fight for liberation of the Indian-administered Kashmir succeeds,'' he said in a 15-page press statement in Urdu.

``I would request Kashmiris to keep in mind the fact that nobody has shared the pain and suffering with you during the past 10 years,'' he said. ``Those who lead you to the path of darkness and destruction have benefited from it.'' He claimed that the Jammu and Ladakh regions would not join the freedom struggle in Kashmir unless the people in POK launched a struggle there. ``The present struggle without the participation of people from Jammu and Ladakh will further divide the State.''

``I am returning to my native Kashmir, knowing full well that I have to surrender before the Indian officials. However, I cannot be tried for the hijacking case as I have already served a 19- year term in Pakistan for the same offence,'' Mr. Quereshi said and added that he had not applied for withdrawal of the case.

Following differences with the JKLF leadership, including its present chief, Mr. Amanullah Khan, he floated the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party (JKDLP) and is now its chairman.

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