Congress attacks NDA on Kandahar hijack issue : Mail Today, News – India Today

If the plane had been halted at Amritsar, it would have saved the lives of a large number of innocent persons, he said, adding that three dreaded terrorists, including Masood Azhar, had had to be released to secure the release of the passengers of the hijacked plane.

This came shortly after the BJP, in a press conference in the national capital, said that all decisions on Kandahar operations were taken in consultation with all the parties.

Akbar also denied that the previous NDA government or Vajpayee had any role in getting Hizbul Mujahiddin leader Syed Salahuddin’son gain admission to a medical college.

“They (the BJP) have compromised the interests of the country whenever they have been in power”.

“Why was it allowed to go and who will face and wipe the tears of thousand of mothers and sisters and fathers of Kashmir and this country that have lost their children and their family members because of the release of the three wanted terrorists?” he said.

“Congress demands that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP apologise unconditionally to the nation for having aided, abetted and facoured anti-India elements, terrorists and criminals”, he said.

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Dulat had said that when the hijacking took place on December 24, the Crisis Management Group (CMG) “goofed up” the entire case by not immobilising the plane when it had landed in Amritsar.

The party also questioned BJP’s commitment to fighting terrorism and alleged it was wearing a “mask of nationalism”.

“On Kandahar, consultations were held at the highest level by senior leaders of the National Democratic Alliance”, BJP spokesperson M.J. “The Congress has a very convenient memory…it’s regrettable… perhaps they have occasional amnesia when it suits them”, Akbar said. Further, he said that Vajpayee was against making Mufti Muhammad Sayeed the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir because of “grave doubts that his daughter Mehbooba Mufti had militant links”.

Noting that everybody was kept in the loop on the IC-814 issue, Akbar said, “Since the Congress has raised it, I challenge it to answer one question: Should those around 200 Indians have been allowed to die?” That nobody said, because nobody was willing to take that call. Accusing the BJP of practising “false nationalism” and “fake patriotism”, he said it was a fact that the “base” of terrorism not only in India but the world was laid with the release of the three ultras.