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India calls on Pakistan to hand over hijackers

NEW DELHI: India called on Pakistan on Saturday to hand over five hijackers of an Indian plane who it said were believed to be in Pakistan.

The Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi was summoned to the foreign office and told that Pakistan had legal obligations to arrest the hijackers and their accomplices and extradite them to India.

"Given that a large number of terrorists whose release was sought by the hijackers are Pakistani nationals and the first destination chosen by the hijackers was Lahore, there were strong grounds for believing that the hijackers were currently in Pakistan," India's Foreign office spokesman said.

"The Pakistani High Commissioner was also informed that the Government of India reserved the right to take further measures as appropriate," the spokesman said without elaborating.

Pakistan says it has no knowledge about the identity of the hijackers, whose eight-day operation ended in Afghanistan on December 31 when India agreed to free three Mujahideen from jails in Indian occupied Kashmir in exchange for the 155 hostages aboard the plane.

Pakistan has vowed to arrest and try the hijackers if they enter the country and denies Indian allegations that it had masterminded the hijacking of the plane while on a flight from Nepal's capital Kathmandu to New Delhi.-Reuters