- Weather | Horoscope | Stocks
expressindia web
HomeBlogsCricketAstrologyShoppingTendersClassifieds OpinionsTravel
| Make this your homepage | Archive
Expressindia » Story

Fernandes refutes Advani's claim on Kandahar

Font Size -

Agencies

Posted online: Friday , March 28, 2008 at 02:52:45
Updated: Friday , March 28, 2008 at 03:15:46


New Delhi, March 28: Senior BJP leader L K Advani's claim that he was not in the loop on Jaswant Singh accompanying terrorists to Kandahar in 1999 was on Friday hotly contested by former Cabinet colleague George Fernandes who said the decision was not unilateral but taken collectively by ministers.

"Yes, all ministers were present", he said in an interview to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN programme Devil's Advocate on being asked whether Advani was present when the decision was taken that Singh, then External Affairs Minister, would accompany the terrorists.

Singh was on a special flight to Kandahar ferrying three terrorists who were to be exchanged for hostages of an Indian Airlines flight.

IC-814 with 189 passengers and crew members was hijacked on Dec.24, 1999 and was first flown to Amritsar and then to Kandahar in Afghanistan. The hostages were released after the terrorists were freed.

Fernandes's comments are in stark contrast to Advani's account of this episode as contained in his memoirs and his recent interviews.

The BJP leader has clearly said that he was not consulted about Singh accompanying the terrorists and only came to know the minister actually got on the plane. Advani has also stated that the Cabinet Committee on Security did not take the decision to send Singh.

Asked whether senior ministers decided that Singh should accompany the terrorists, Fernandes aid "Yes, I am sure, I am certain that was (the case)".

Bookmark this Page
  • Digg

    On Digg, users share intersting online content by submitting links to the site. At that point, the Digg audience can vote on whether or not they think it is interesting. Articles with lots of votes, or "diggs," rise up higher on the site's main page and topical subsection pages. Another form of social sharing, this site also lets users categorize the content they are submitting to Digg and label it with descriptions of up to 350 characters. Digg users can also submit comments on each content item submitted to the site.

    To register, go to: http://digg.com/register

    del.icio.us

    At its most basic level, del.icio.us allows users to save their bookmarks online. Del.icio.us also gives users the ability to "tag" their bookmarks with descriptive category names. For example, someone who has bookmarked multiple Web pages that deal with the Washington Nationals baseball team could tag those links with any terms they want, like "baseball," "nationals," "natsfan," etc.

    As members of a "social bookmarking" community, del.icio.us sers can also see how many other people have bookmarked the same pages, and they can look at those users' bookmark collections to find other interesting online content.

    To register, go to: http://del.icio.us/register

    Reddit

    Reddit allows users to submit news articles and other online content to the site. Users also give articles a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Reddit then uses those votes to build a user profile and to find articles to recommend to you. Users can also submit comments on items posted to the site.

    To register, go to: http://reddit.com/login

Rate this Article
1
Rating
Ads by Google
Post Comments
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
Message*
Characters remaining
 
TERMS OF USE: The views represented here are not neccesarily endorsed by www.expressindia.com and its allied websites. All messages will be moderated and no message that has inflammatory, abusive, derogatory language or any language deemed unfit for publication by the editor will be displayed. Though it will be endeavoured that as many messages as possible be displayed, there will be time lag between the submission and publication of the messages. The website reserves the right to publish or reject any message.
I agree to the terms of use.
Bad connections by roti on 30 Mar 2008

Media reports have suggested that Sanjay Dutt was introduced to gangester cum terrorist Dawood Ibrahim with the help of Feroz Khan in Dubai.The whole story seems to suggest that not only Dawood Ibrahim had connections with Advani, Sushma Swaraj,Feroz Khan etc. but he seems to be very cleverly playing a role in which it is presumed that he controls many different "bikau" people from the political market in India.Incidents such as hawala in which the master of art Advani's name appeared, Tehlka in which desh drohi activities were revealed, Madan Lal Khurana's statement in which he has very clearly stated that both Advani and Sushma Swaraj are connected with Dawood Ibrahim seems to suggest that India is in great danger, because while our NAU JAWANS guard Indian borders and face enemy bullets every day, but the desh drohi element is ready to destroy the democratic fabric of India from the inside.The "bikau" leaders are dressed as desh bhagats with VHP like networks and they are doing errands for the Indian enemy.Even few desh drohi police personal were involved when hundreds lost their lives in another terrorist attack.Sanjay is perhaps a very small fish in the big pond.

Lage Raho............... by pk on 29 Mar 2008

"Dogs Tail will never be straight" same with Media who now started their dirty trick again.Fernandes has also said in that Interview that "May be Advani not present at that MOMENT"JUST READ THIS and expose urself. http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=front_page

Advai book by ram on 29 Mar 2008

The destiny of India lies with this Advai type of PEOPLE. OH RAM, pl save us from this type of people who are going to making us slave again.

BJP currently do not have any chance to take the office. by Anand Babu on 29 Mar 2008

Politicians are opportunistics. Since Advani Ji had released his memoirs he should retire from politics. We will calp for Advani for all his servises so far. Some one more capable from BJP should become the next PM of India. We do not want any Jinna fan to lead the country. Let the foreign fans go to Italy and Columbia. Leave the Indian matters to true Indians. What ever we may say, out of the current lot of political parties BJP is the best option. In the recent past they have an identity problem, whether to be truly Natonalistic or follow like the pseudo seculars. The faithful supporters expect the BJP to be its original true nationalistic. Narendra modi can be considered for the post. Nationalism is not appeasing and begging for faithfulness to nation. Muslim and Christian appeasment have no place in the modern India. Only those who can treat all Indians alike are true seculars. The rest all are Pseudo secualars, the most corrupt family business machine an imposter of the old INC.

Ministers are liers by Joseph on 29 Mar 2008

All Indian ministers are liers. That is what is Indian democracy. The Indian journalist are not even capable to find out the real lier and bring him/her in front of the people. Two ministers telling the opposite things and make fun of the Indian people!! Long live Indian democracy?!!

Fernandes refutes Advani's claim on Kandahar by Deepaknahi on 29 Mar 2008

Hary Nambiar-Advani is a public person,his life is public,therefore the journalist did not do anything wrong to open this story to the media.Public has the right to know if their leader is real or fake.

Criticising public figures by Hary Nambiar on 29 Mar 2008

Yes Deepak, you are right that Advani is a public figure. However, I watched many interviews that reporter had with other people like Ram Jethmalani, Renuka Choudhary, Venhaiah Naidu, Yaschuray, Jayalalithaa, Narendra Modi, Imran Khan and Henry Kissinger. With Mr. Kissinger, he was subdued and rarely opened his mouth. With Imran also. he was polite. He offended everyone else with his consistant interruption. He hardly allowed them to finish a sentence. All the time he kept making insulting allegations. Decent people must avoid that report.

Fernandes contradicts Advani by RJ Khurana on 28 Mar 2008

Whom to believe and whom to disbelieve? And yet, they are all honourable men!!!

Advani by Ananda on 28 Mar 2008

I have no doubt about the patriotism of Mr. Advani but his many flip-flops in recent times and the release of his memoirs at an inappropriate time betray his lack of judgment and skill which are absolutely necessary for steering the ship of state. A person becomes great by displaying skills and acumen to meet critical situations, not by mere patriotism. Advani abilities seem to be a far cry from those of Mr. Vajpayye. i doubt whether he will make a good prime minister.

Advani by Yogi on 29 Mar 2008

Mr Advani should resign from politics. Let the dynamic young person take charge. I nominate Mr. Narinder Modi.

Advani,Farnandece,America by Pravin on 28 Mar 2008

i dont think Mr. Advani is a liar. You all should keep first thing in mind that this is Politics and this is INDIA, so it is indian politics. i believe most of the time in our history home secratary is not informed or not given enf support/satta to handle things.....go in the past Sardar patel not given enf power on kashmir/Div/Goa/Junagadh issues...although he managed to do the rest other than kashmir.....that could be the same case in here as well.... adn MR. Farnandese was charged with the scandals in coffins of our brave soldiers died in kargil.....should you believe that person a truthmaker!!! huh........we better forget that past....Also according to Mr. Advani, america didnt help fully and so they suffered from 9/11 in which terrorists we freed were involved highly........its like what you do, you get back here......

true patriotic by vidya sharma on 28 Mar 2008

forget abt his flip flops, he has been in consistent all d time except while ppl were being killed n womens were being raped. he has been symbol of evil. i was great admirer of him once upon a time , but i realse politics exploiting emotions are mere a tool fool the people of this nation. im happy with manmohan , 9% growth rate at a difficult time when big economies performing poor, higher groth rate when oil is over 100 dollor per barrel. his effors n hard work is more valueable to this nation.a true patriotic

Double Standards by Kaushik on 28 Mar 2008

U r now saying dat Mr Fernandes is a corrupt person just bcoz what he has said makes Advani a liar. What about hwn Fernades was defending modi n d BJP during the gujarat riots??

Mr.Advani 's Fables by Deepak on 28 Mar 2008

It seems mr.advani is neither a good writer nor a good painter.He has tried to paint himself white and the others black.Meanwhile those kernels of grey that got left behind are now spilling over and becoming black He thought readers would not notice the grey and think it was white.First the American ambassador's denial yesterday and today Mr.Fernandes'disagreement with Mr Advani's version ? Sad !

Lord Rama destroyed the bridge, Centre tells...CPM expels Somnath Chatterjee from partyBJP expels 8 MPs, Advani terms July 22 as 'b...America will now get a free hand from UPA: L...Expulsion is CPM's 79th birthday 'gift' to S...‘Half of India doesn't vote for either Congr...
© 2008 Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. All rights reserved
The Indian Express Group | Advertise With Us | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Work With Us | Site Map