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High alert at Chaman, Torkham for hijackers

IQBAL KHATTAK

PESHAWAR: The government has made elaborate security arrangements along 14,000-kilometre border with Afghanistan to thwart entry of five hijackers, who on Friday released around 160 passengers and crew in exchange for three Kashmiri Mujahideen leaders.

Following Taliban's 10-hour ultimatum to leave Afghanistan, fears grew that the five unidentified hijackers might cross into Pakistan.

A top security official at Torkham, border check-post with Afghanistan on Pakistan side, told Business Recorder on Saturday that "Pakistan will not allow them safe passage."

"We are on high alert," the official in charge of security said.

The security personnel had been ordered to check every person coming from Afghanistan: "No unwanted person will be allowed. This is what we have been asked by high-ups (at Islamabad)," the official remarked.

The security personnel, however, may encounter problem of identification. "We are not provided photographs of the hijackers. But our (security) personnel are trained and skilled to cope with such situations," the official hoped.

The five hijackers on Friday set 160 hostages free after New Delhi bowed to their demand of release of three pro-Kashmiri jailed leaders.

After the hijacking saga was over, Taliban Foreign Minister Wakeel Ahmed Mutawakel told a press conference that hijackers had 10 hours to leave Afghanistan. His Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh was also present on this occasion.

Mutawakel, in reply to question, said that Afghanistan had refused the hijackers political asylum, leaving them in a quandary as to where to go.

The official at Torkham elaborated that the hijackers - if they opt to enter Pakistan - would travel along unmanned crossing points with Afghanistan.

The official disclosed that similar "alert warning" was also issued to authorities in Quetta. "Authorities tightened security at Chaman, a southern checkpost with Afghan border," he added.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen as saying that the hijackers left Afghanistan. He refused, however, to give details about the hijackers' whereabout.

He continued; "I do not know where they have gone. What is important is that the Afghan government has honoured its commitment."

The hijacked Indian Airlines plane returned to New Delhi on Saturday from Kandahar after its engines were made operational, Afghan sources said.