Crisis over, mystery still unsolved

Crisis over, mystery still unsolved
HARISH GUPTA

NEW DELHI, JAN 2: Till now, no one has a clue to the hijackers' real identity and nationality. Though official sources claim that they were all Pakistanis, the faceless hijackers continue to cause worry the world over. Their possible nationality can be established only from the fact that they sought the release of 36 jailed militants. Of them 29 belonged to Pakistan and 7 to Afghanistan.

The hijackers were highly trained for the operation and had perhaps studied past incidents. They had minute-to-minute communications network at their command for contact with their masterminds who were not in Lahore or Karachi but in a European capital. That they had a satellite phone is confirmed from the fact that the mysterious caller who asked the Amritsar ATC to refuel the aircraft on a mobile has been traced to a European capital. The caller (G Lall), claimed to be a joint secretary in the Union Home Ministry.

Intelligence agencies believe the hijackers used a satellite phone to apprise somebody abroad about thesituation or a person in Europe could not have known about the situation in Amritsar.

This was perhaps done to help Pakistan duck blame that it is sponsoring terrorism in India. It was also because of this that the Taliban is not informing India or anybody else where the hijackers have gone. The fact that they chose Kandahar for final landing also strengthens the theory that it alone could have provided sanctuary for them.

That they had no plans to take off from Kandahar was also clear, as any other destination like Syria, Sudan or Libya would not given them diplomatic sanctuary. India has diplomatic relations with all of them and could have used resources to make them hand over the hijackers.

As long as the hijackers were in the hands of the un-recognised Taliban regime, they knew no pressure could work except from Pakistan. That one of the hijackers was fully aware of navigational and aviation matters is also known. He did not allow the pilot to send any coded message either to Amritsar or Delhi AirTraffic Control (ATC).

Taliban denials notwithstanding, it is now confirmed that the hijackers received a coded message from Karachi through the wireless frequency (which Indian intelligence agencies were able to track down) to the effect that they could blow up the aircraft with passengers on board if the demands were not met by January 1, 2000.

It was also noticed during the crucial phase of negotiations in Kandahar by the Indian negotiators that the hijackers were also seeking 20 minutes of time whenever a proposal was put to them. They used to switch off the wireless frequency after talking to the Indian negotiators. Whether through satellite phone or alternative wireless frequency, it is clear they were receiving instructions from abroad. This was perhaps one of the reasons for the Indian government to give in as the hijackers were cold-blooded fundamentalists trained in hijacking. They knew that Amritsar was a dangerous place to stay for long. Though the pilot managed to land, the aircraft could notbe immobilised as the hijackers kept the plane on the runway, kept the engine on and also kept the Amritsar ATC in the dark about the actual fuel position in the plane.

The hijackers chose Kathmandu, posing as Indian nationals so that they would not need passports to board the flight. That they were able to smuggle in weapons and grenades with the connivance of the locals has come as a shock.