New Delhi, August 17
In a major diplomatic and political breakthrough in the IC-814 hijacking case, the USA has agreed to interrogate, on behalf of India, the arrested Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s deposed Taliban regime, Vakil Ahmad Muttavakil.
Top sources in the government here told The Tribune that a detailed questionnaire had been sent to Washington for the purpose.
The development is supposed to be a major diplomatic and political victory for India, though legally it would not be of much help because the testimony of a foreigner in a foreign land recorded by nationals of another country would not be treated as admissible evidence in a court of law.
The questionnaire, understood to have been sent through diplomatic channels, was prepared by the CBI with inputs from other intelligence agencies. The CBI is the prosecuting agency in the IC-814 hijacking case.
Under the agreement with Washington, the American officials would video-record Muttavakil’s statement on the basis of the Indian questionnaire and send the videotape to the authorities concerned here.
Sources said legally, operationally and from the point of view of intelligence agencies, any information gleaned from Muttavakil would not be of much help as officials believe he is not going to divulge anything that New Delhi does not know already.
However, the Indians are keenly looking forward to a windfall which, though a remote possibility, cannot be ruled out 100 per cent: Muttavakil implicating Pakistan Government in general or its military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Sources said the extremely tough conditions where Muttavakil is being kept in the USA might well have dampened his spirits and broken his will.
Muttavakil is the seniormost Taliban leader to have been in Washington’s custody.
