M A I N   N E W S

Key man behind Kandahar hijack held in Chile
Ajay Banerjee/TNS

In its recent tranche of leaked cables, Wikileaks had suggested that in 2005 India had of more than 150 passengers held hostage at Kandahar on board the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814. The flight had taken off from Kathmandu on December 24 1999 and the hostage crisis lasted some six days. The CBI, in its chargesheet in the case had named Rauf, a Pakistan national, as one of the key financiers and plotters of the hijack. A reward of Rs 10 lakh had been announced and he is wanted in India in the hijacking case.

As per the CBI, he should be about 37 years of age. The last time the name of Abdul Rauf surfaced was when he was reportedly “called in” by Pakistani authorities in October 2009 to negotiate the release of 42 persons taken hostages by pro-Taliban militants at a military garrison in Rawalpindi. This indicated that some one in the Pakistan establishment knew where to contact Rauf.

A joint team of the CBI and the Research Analysis Wing (RAW) will be going to Chile tomorrow to verify whether arrested Abdul Rauf is the same person wanted in this country. The CBI’s task is daunting as it does not have Rauf’s picture or his fingerprints. India had asked the US for his photograph besides seeking permission to interrogate Mansoor Akhtar, ex-Civil Aviation Minister in the Taliban Government of Afghanistan, and Akhtar Usmani, the Taliban corps commander in Kandahar - both reportedly in the custody of the American authorities. The latter two were at the helm when the hijack took place.

Sources in the government said the CBI was informed that a person Abdul Rauf had been nabbed for travelling on forged documents. An Interpol Red Corner notice was pending against Rauf.

A team would be soon going to Chile to ascertain his identity as well as question him, the sources said, adding some help could be asked from friendly intelligence agencies. According to the confessional statement of Abdul Latif, one of the conspirators who is in an Indian jail at present Abdul Rauf and Yusuf Azhar, a brother of Masood Azhar, criss-crossed India and Nepal several times. It was in July 1999 that the hijack plot took shape.

In August, Abdul Latif was told about the plan and he forged passports and travel documents for the five hijackers. At a crucial meeting of the gang in the Kathmandu on December 13, Latif was told he would not be on the hijacked plane but should remain as the gang's point-man in Mumbai.

When the Hijacking took place Abdul Rauf called up Abdul Latif, asking him to call up the BBC offices in London and give details of the hijacking. The call was intercepted by the Mumbai police and Latif was picked up even as the Indian agencies negotiated for the release of passengers.