Pak admits Azhar’s anti-US remarks not helpful for its image

India’s acting High Commissioner Hardeep Puri effectively countered Ahmed’s allegation that the hijack drama was "cooked up" by India and said that New Delhi has enough evidence to prove that the hijackers were Pakistanis.

"No democratically-elected government accountable to its people concocts a story like this which results in killing of its own citizens. What the Home Minister (Advani) did on Thursday is to proceed beyond circumstantial evidence to provide hardcore and incontrovertible evidence based on interrogation of four people arrested in Mumbai, basedon intelligence intercepts, all of which point to not only the fact that they were Pakistanis, but of the involvement of the Pakistani state in this episode," Puri said. During the 30-minute programme, Ahmed tried to deflect all questions. When asked whether the hijackers were Pakistanis, Ahmed said Azhar has "confirmed" that they were Indians. Puri rejected his contention, saying India has all the evidence to show that they are Pakistanis.

"These are the people who got on to the aircraft in Kathmandu as a result of security lapse. They were not wearing masks at that point of time. They mingled with passengers for 35 minutes till the plane was hijacked. Passengers have helped identify these people," Puri said.

Asked why Pakistan was not countering the photographs and names of hijackers released by India, Ahmed said, "We have refuted this. This is so weak.""You put five people in a cell. You beat them up. Advani has a track record. He’s the one who spearheaded the Babri Masjid destruction. He locks peopleup. He can get any statement," Ahmed alleged. Asked why India failed to deal with the hijackers when the plane was in Amritsar, Puri said a lot of people have criticised the Government as they do not have sufficient facts available to them.

"How long was the plane at Amritsar? It was actually going to Lahore. It was not allowed to land initially in Lahore, that’s why it came to Amritsar, and the pilot had told the control tower that four passengers had been killed and eight more have been readied for execution. A government which has concern for the lives of its citizens, over 150 of whom were on board, along with foreign nationals, obviously has to weigh the options before it," he said. Asked whether it was a mistake to have yielded to the demand of hijackers, Puri said, "It was not an ideal outcome" from the Indian point of view.