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The terrible twenty

THE MUCH-TALKED about list of 20 fugitives submitted by New Delhi to Islamabad on December 31, 2001, consists of hijackers, terrorists, narcotics traffickers and criminals, who have reportedly taken shelter in Pakistan.

Included in it are the five hijackers of Indian Airlines' flight IC-814 which was hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on December 24, 1999. The names of the five prime accused in the Bombay serial bomb blasts of March 12, 1993 also figure prominently.

Terrorists and underworld elements, named by India in the list, are those against whom Interpol alerts have also been issued. Both the cases — Bombay serial blasts and IC-814 hijacking — have been probed and chargesheets filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The five prime accused in the Bombay serial blasts case are: Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, Memon Ayub, Memon Ibrahim, Pathan Izaz and Chhota Shakeel. The five hijackers of IC-814 flight also wanted for offences of murder and kidnapping are: Athar Ibrahim alias Chief, Azhar Yusuf alias Mohammad Salim, Mistri Zahur Ibrahim alias Bhola, Sayed Shahid Akhtar alias Doctor and Shakir Mohammed alias Shankar. Two members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang wanted for conspiracy to target the Union Home Minister, L. K. Advani, have been named in the list. They are: Ishaq Atta Hussain alias Ali Moosa and Sagir Sabir Ali Shaikh.

The chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Maulana Masood Azhar, who was released by India in exchange for the safe return of the passengers of IC-814, and Salauddin alias Mohammad Yusuf Shah, supreme commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, also figure in the list. While Masood Azhar has been named as the principal accused in the December 13 attack on Parliament House, Salauddin is wanted for terrorist acts perpetrated in India. Syed Abdul Karim alias Hakimji, an activist of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible for the bombings in northern India during 1996-97, has also been named.

Others wanted for various terrorist acts are Punjab militants belonging to the Dal Khalsa, the Babbar Khalsa International and some other outfits. Gajinder Singh, leader of the Dal Khalsa, is wanted for the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in 1981.

Lakhbir Singh Rode, leader of the International Sikh Youth Federation (Rode), Paramjit Singh Panjwar alias Paramjit Pamma, leader of the Khalistan Commando Force (Panjwar), Ranjeet Singh alias Neeta, leader of the Khalistan Zindabad Force and Wadhawa Singh, leader of the Babbar Khalsa International, also figure in the list.

V.K.

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