By IANS
New Delhi : Pakistan is giving refuge to those who masterminded the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight in December 1999 and the authorities have refused to cooperate in bringing the perpetrators to book, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charged Tuesday.
“It is evident that the conspiracy was hatched by seven Pakistani nationals with the help of people from other countries. While the governments of Nepal and United Arab Emirates have been exemplary, no cooperation whatsoever has come from the Pakistan government,” said the investigative agency’s director, Vijay Shankar.
A special court in Patiala Tuesday handed over life terms to three accused – Yusuf Nepali, Dilip Kumar Bhujel and Abdul Latif – under the Indian Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982.
The three were found guilty of criminal conspiracy to murder passenger, Rupen Katyal, attempt to murder another traveller, Satnam Singh, and were also slapped with charges for kidnap, criminal intimidation and illegal confinement.
However, the seven Pakistani nationals that include five hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 are still elusive. The premier investigating agency stoutly maintains they are in Pakistan.
The five hijackers have been identified as Ibrahim Athar alias Chief, Sunny Ahmed Qazi alias Burger, Sahid Sayeed Akhtar alias Doctor, Zahoor Ibrahim Mistry alias Bhola and Shakir alias Shankar. Two others related to Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar – Yusuf Azhar and Abdul Rauf – reportedly hatched the conspiracy.
“We very much believe they are in Pakistan. The union government has taken up the matter at the highest political and diplomatic levels for their extradition to face trial but no response has come from the Pakistan government,” Vijay Shankar added.
According to Shankar, the CBI as well as other key ministries of the government have been pursuing the case for the last seven years.
During investigations, arrest warrants against the seven Pakistani nationals were issued by the CBI and were forwarded to Islamabad with the request to arrest them and extradite them to India at the earliest.
The New Delhi-bound flight from Kathmandu was hijacked in the airspace of Varanasi and the plane was taken to Amritsar for refuelling.
However, the hijackers stabbed Rupen Katyal and Satnam Singh with knives and at gunpoint forced the plane’s commander to take off for Lahore without fuel.
After refuelling at Lahore airport, the aircraft was forced to take off again and head towards Kabul. When Kabul refused permission to land as it had no night landing facilities, the aircraft was forced to fly to Dubai. Twenty-seven passengers and Katyal’s body were off-loaded at Dubai airport.
The weeklong ordeal ended with the release of three dreaded militants from Indian prisons – Maulana Masood Azhar, Al Umar chief Mushtaq Zargar and Ahmed Omar Sayeed Sheikh, who has now been convicted for the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
“This case presents the difficulties the global war on terror faces in dealing with the terrorists and calls for the urgent need of international cooperation. Today’s conviction in Patiala has confirmed that we have overwhelming evidence in the case,” Vijay Shankar said. “The conviction gives us the challenge to bring the remaining terrorists to book.”
So far the CBI has got red corne