The Hindu : National : Kandahar not a weak point: Rajnath

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 18, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

Kandahar not a weak point: Rajnath

‘Jaswant accompanying terrorists was a necessity at that time’

Rajnath Singh

New Delhi: Under attack from the Congress on the Kandahar hijacking episode, the BJP is not apologetic about the NDA government’s decision to free three terrorists and Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh accompanying them to Afghanistan, saying it was a “necessity” at that time.

BJP president Rajnath Singh refused to accept that the 1999 Kandahar episode was a “weak point” for the party and it was pushed on the “back foot” as the Congress was raising questions over the NDA government’s approach to terrorism.

“We had to save the lives of so many people [held hostage on the hijacked plane]... It does not mean we compromised with terrorism,” he told PTI in an interview.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday accused the BJP of “surrendering to terrorists” in 1999.

Five terrorists hijacked IC-814 during its flight from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24. At least 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days and the stand-off ended when three dreaded terrorists were released and Jaswant Singh took them on a special plane to Kandahar.

Asked whether the BJP did not find anything wrong in a Minister accompanying terrorists, Mr. Singh said “considering the sentiments of the nation and people of the country, it was a necessity of that time.”

Referring to the scenes outside 7 Race Course Road during the hijacking crisis, the BJP chief said “everybody was demanding that nobody should be killed. Even the Congress was demonstrating outside the Prime Minister’s residence.”

He said: “it was an hour of crisis. If the Congress is saying it was the weak point of the BJP or it was a failure of the NDA’s strategy, then I would like to ask them why were they demonstrating outside the PM’s residence.”

Mr. Singh said that if the NDA returned to power, it would enact a law tougher than the Prevention of Terrorism Act to fight terror with an iron fist.

“This government crossed all limits when they repealed the POTA without providing an alternative,” he said, adding that scrapping of the tough anti-terror law was a message by the Congress-led government that it was “soft” on terror. — PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National