candypreet
04-20-2005, 02:52 PM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1082645.cms
NEW DELHI: Even as President Pervez Musharraf made tall claims about curbing terrorism as part of confidence-building measures, some serious irritants persist. Trial of the IC-814 hijacking case is drawing to a close, but the seven key accused, including the five hijackers - all Pak nationals - are still moving around scot-free in Pakistan.
"The prosecution's evidence was completed this week and the verdict will be out in a couple of months time. But despite red-corner notices issued by Interpol to the authorities in Islamabad way back in December 2000, Pakistan has not deported or arrested or even provided any information on any of the accused," said senior officials here.
After a thorough investigation, the CBI had filed a chargesheet in June 2000 naming 10 accused. Only three of these could be arrested. The court took cognizance and trial was initiated in May 2001, with the other seven absconding.
The five hijackers, all Pakistan nationals - Ibrahim Athar alias Chief, Sunny Ahmed Qazi alias Burger, Shahid Sayeed Akhtar alias Doctor, Zahoor Ibrahim Mistry alias Bhola and Shakir alias Shankar - boarded IC-814 at Tribhuvan international airport in Kathmandu on December 24, 1999.
On its way to Delhi, the flight carrying 174 passengers was hijacked and taken to Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, before it landed at Kandahar, in Afghanistan. The passengers were released after...
...six days on the aircraft, only after the Indian government struck a deal and released Maulana Masood Azhar, a terrorist involved in several terror strikes in India.
The bulk of the trial proceedings - conducted at the high security special court in Patiala Central prison - are now over. Almost all witnessess out of a list of 323, which included foreign nationals as well, have deposed, the evidence and documents have been placed before the judge and the witnesses have been examined. The investigating officer, DIG M Narayanan has also made his submissions over the last one year.
The investigation revealed that the conspiracy to hijack the airliner was hatched in the beginning of 1999, after meetings among the 10 accused in Mumbai, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Karachi, Dhaka and Kathmandu. The CBI managed to arrest Dilip Kumar Bhujail of Kalimpong, Abdul Latif a native of Gujarat and Bhupalman Damai alias Yusuf Nepali from Mumbai. Abdul Rauf and Yusuf Azhar, also Pak nationals are absconding.
Meanwhile, the US had also launched a parallel investigation since its own nationals were among the hostages. Federal agents had come to Mumbai in quest for evidence around February this year. But nothing much has come up so far.
NEW DELHI: Even as President Pervez Musharraf made tall claims about curbing terrorism as part of confidence-building measures, some serious irritants persist. Trial of the IC-814 hijacking case is drawing to a close, but the seven key accused, including the five hijackers - all Pak nationals - are still moving around scot-free in Pakistan.
"The prosecution's evidence was completed this week and the verdict will be out in a couple of months time. But despite red-corner notices issued by Interpol to the authorities in Islamabad way back in December 2000, Pakistan has not deported or arrested or even provided any information on any of the accused," said senior officials here.
After a thorough investigation, the CBI had filed a chargesheet in June 2000 naming 10 accused. Only three of these could be arrested. The court took cognizance and trial was initiated in May 2001, with the other seven absconding.
The five hijackers, all Pakistan nationals - Ibrahim Athar alias Chief, Sunny Ahmed Qazi alias Burger, Shahid Sayeed Akhtar alias Doctor, Zahoor Ibrahim Mistry alias Bhola and Shakir alias Shankar - boarded IC-814 at Tribhuvan international airport in Kathmandu on December 24, 1999.
On its way to Delhi, the flight carrying 174 passengers was hijacked and taken to Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, before it landed at Kandahar, in Afghanistan. The passengers were released after...
...six days on the aircraft, only after the Indian government struck a deal and released Maulana Masood Azhar, a terrorist involved in several terror strikes in India.
The bulk of the trial proceedings - conducted at the high security special court in Patiala Central prison - are now over. Almost all witnessess out of a list of 323, which included foreign nationals as well, have deposed, the evidence and documents have been placed before the judge and the witnesses have been examined. The investigating officer, DIG M Narayanan has also made his submissions over the last one year.
The investigation revealed that the conspiracy to hijack the airliner was hatched in the beginning of 1999, after meetings among the 10 accused in Mumbai, Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Karachi, Dhaka and Kathmandu. The CBI managed to arrest Dilip Kumar Bhujail of Kalimpong, Abdul Latif a native of Gujarat and Bhupalman Damai alias Yusuf Nepali from Mumbai. Abdul Rauf and Yusuf Azhar, also Pak nationals are absconding.
Meanwhile, the US had also launched a parallel investigation since its own nationals were among the hostages. Federal agents had come to Mumbai in quest for evidence around February this year. But nothing much has come up so far.