The Kandahar Conspiracy

What the CBI finds itself up against is the high diplomatic stakes involved in proving, for instance, how Pakistani intelligence officials had a direct role in deciding the outcome of the December 24, 1999, skyjack of the Kathmandu-New Delhi Indian Airlines flight.

The agency is under pressure 8212; from the Home Ministry, for one 8212; to help its American counterpart, the FBI, get a US grand jury indictment in the case. The FBI had registered its own criminal case because a US citizen, named Jenny Moore, was among the 190 abducted passengers.

Soon after the hijack, India was assured of getting an early indictment. But not only is the indictment nowhere on the horizon, the FBI has also refused to share with the CBI important pieces of evidence the Allied forces recovered from Afghanistan.

FBI sleuths, in the meantime, have made four trips to New Delhi to gather evidence and testimonies to stitch up their own case. In fact, when the FBI director, Robert Mueller, visited New Delhi two years ago, a clear indication was given to him that India would have no objection to the hijackers being tried on US territory as long as they were brought to book.

That assistance has been slow in coming on the hijack probe was even taken up by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani when he met US Attorney General John Ashcroft in Washington in June 2003.

The ongoing visit of the FBI representative has kindled hopes that the US crime-fighting agency has accelerated interest in its hijack case and might press for a grand jury indictment. This would be as big a diplomatic victory for India as the recent blacklisting of Dawood Ibrahim by the US administration.

EVEN as the Washington-Delhi foxtrot gathered momentum, the trial of the three conspirators 8212; Abdul Latif, Bhupal Damari and Dalip Kumar Bhujel 8212; was moved, for security reasons, from a designated court in Patiala to a makeshift courtroom in Patiala jail. Once this happened, defence lawyers embarked on a boycott of sorts. From the 25th witness onwards, they refused to cross-examine those giving evidence.

To date, 120 witnesses have been examined and only the last one remains. The investigating officer of the case is due to be questioned. In all, 10 people were named in the CBI chargesheet 8212; including seven Pakistanis listed as 8216;8216;absconding accused8217;8217;. The seven are the five hijackers themselves and the brother and brother-in-law of Maulana Masood Azhar, the militant leader for whose release from Jammu jail the audacious hijack drama was played out.

That the release of Azhar, along with Omar Sheikh 8212; later convicted for the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan 8212; and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar was an enormous security setback for India is another matter.

DESPITE India8217;s all-out diplomatic efforts these past four years, and despite the Interpol issuing red corner notices, there has been no feedback from Pakistan as to the whereabouts of the five hijackers. CBI officials say on two occasions they did receive alerts about Abdul Rauf, one of the infamous five, being spotted in Seoul and Lebanon. But these were false alarms.

If there has been one breakthrough of sorts in the hijack case it has been the CBI obtaining permission to interrogate the Taliban8217;s onetime foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil. He acted as the interlocutor when the hijack took place.

The CBI was allowed to question Muttawakil in Kabul shortly after he was released by US authorities. Guarded in his responses, he is said to have helped confirm the presence of ISI operatives in Kandahar in the final week of December 1999.

The CBI has now put in a request to question Muttawakil again, as well as other Taliban officials like General Usmani. Permission is awaited. Officers handling the case say the option of asking for Muttawakil8217;s extradition cannot be ruled out. But as has been the case with many of the developments in the IC-814 case, this decision will eventually be taken at the diplomatic level.