Declare Pak a terrorist state, Vajpayee to US

Throwing light on the hijacking incident and the subsequent developments, he said that information now available with the Government made it clear that the hijacking was an integral part of the Pakistan-backed campaign of terrorism.

These developments, Vajpayee said, had set back his earlier endeavour of establishing better ties with Pakistan. Apart from their stated demands, thehijackers and their mentors had planned to internationalise the Kashmir issue and isolate India diplomatically. According to Vajpayee, they failed miserably in their 8220;diabolical8221; design.

8220;If anything got internationalised during the crisis, it was not the Kashmir issue but the brazen resort to terrorism by those seeking to break India8217;s unity and integrity,8221; he said. Asked about the approach of the new regime in Pakistan, Vajpayee said that it was hostile towards India. India was still trying to establish the identities of the hijackers, though it had been established that there were a few Pakistanis among them. India would seek the extradition of the hijackers once their identities were established, he said.

Asked about the role of Taliban in the hijacking incident, Vajpayee said that a thorough assessment of its role was yet to be completed. He categorically said that the Indian Government had no plans to recognise the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Although the approach of Taliban was helpful inKandahar which helped for a better understanding, Vajpayee said that the Taliban sympathies lay with the hijackers. An investigation was underway as to how the hijackers could secure new weapons at Kandahar. Vajpayee maintained that there could be a possibility that the weapons had been kept earlier inside the plane or there was also the possibility that these weapons were secured at Kandahar.

When a newsman reminded him that his party had criticised the V P Singh Government for exchanging terrorists with the abducted daughter of the then Home Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, Vajpayee said that in last week8217;s incident the number of passengers was high and it involved more women and children.

8220;There was no other alternative than to accede to the demands. The Government released only three terrorists whereas they had demanded the release of 36 terrorists.8221;

From the time the hijacking crisis began, the Government, he said, had set itself two objectives 8212; safe return of the passengers and crew andprotection of nation8217;s long-term interests.

Asserting that the objectives had been fulfilled, Vajpayee said that the terrorist action of the hijackers had been condemned by nations around the world, because of which anti-India forces behind the terrorist act had been isolated in the eyes of the world community.

Vajpayee said that it had strengthened the legitimacy of India8217;s traditional stand on Kashmir. Simultaneously, it had shown the world community that Pakistan8217;s Kashmir agenda was not only baseless, but was being pursued by recourse to terrorism, which constituted a patent threat to global security.

Vajpayee denied that there were dissensions within the ruling coalition on decisions taken by the Government to end the hijacking crisis. 8220;All these reports about dissension are baseless,8221; he maintained, asserting that decisions taken at every stage had been unanimous.