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Fernandes contests Advani’s claim

Special Correspondent

Blackwill too challenges BJP leader’s contentions

NEW DELHI: The former Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani’s assertion that he was unaware of the decision to have the then External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh escort the terrorists to Kandahar in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999 has been contested by senior Janata Dal (United) leader George Fernandes.

The former United States Ambassador Robert Blackwill has also contested some of Mr. Advani’s contentions in the senior BJP leader’s book My Country, My Life.

In an interview with CNN-IBN, Mr. Fernandes recounts in detail the decision taken by senior Ministers of the Vajpayee- led government in December 1999 to send Mr. Singh to Kandahar with three terrorists. Mr. Fernandes says this decision was taken after a discussion between the senior Ministers and that “all Ministers were present.”

Mr. Fernandes insists that the decision was not unilaterally taken but supported by a discussion among Ministers and a decision taken by them.

Asked if Mr. Advani, as Home Minister, would have been present, he replies: “Yes, all of us were present.”

In recent interviews and in his book, Mr. Advani has maintained that he was not consulted about Mr. Singh accompanying the terrorists and only came to know when he (Mr. Singh) got on the plane. He has also claimed that the Cabinet Committee on Security did not take the decision to send Mr. Singh.

In another TV interview, Mr. Blackwill has denied Mr. Advani’s version that both discussed the Kandahar hijack.

Mr. Advani appears to have mixed up Mr. Blackwill with his predecessor when he wrote that the former Deputy Prime Minister sought the U.S. help to end the hijack crisis.

“Well, when I was Ambassador here, Mr. Advani on several occasions described this episode to me along the lines of his effort to solicit American help during that crisis, help in Dubai in giving Indian commandos access to the plane and so forth and his enormous frustration that the administration was unresponsive,” Mr. Blackwill said.

“But, of course, it was 1999 and it was the Clinton administration. I was happily at the Harvard during that time,” he added.

Mr. Advani has written about his deep disappointment over “the U.S. not helping India during the crisis despite seeking assistance from Mr. Blackwill.”

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