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Indian reports dismissed as baseless

ISLAMABAD: An official Spokesman of the Afghan Ministry of Information has dismissed as "baseless" a reports attributed to the Afghan Minister for Information Maulvi Qudratullah Jamal that the hijackers had gone to Quetta.

The Spokesman Maulvi Muhammad Yaqub Kanai told Afghan Islamic Press that the report which has been attributed to the Minister for Information is entirely fabricated and unfounded, PTV reported Sunday.

During the whole hijacking drama the Afghan Minister for Information had not been present either in Kabul or Kandahar but had gone to Herat for some official work, the Spokesman said.

Meanwhile Interior Minister Lt-Gen Moinuddin Haider (Retd) has said Pakistan wants to play its role for global peace and in this regard it has demonstrated much responsibility.

"As far as we are concerned, we are opposed to all acts of terrorism and hijacking," he told BBC radio.

Responding to a statement by Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh claiming that hijackers of Indian plane had entered Pakistan territory, he said, "If the External Affairs Minister is saying this with so much certainty, it means that he is in touch with the terrorists that he knows their every movement while we do not know it."

Moin regretted that such irresponsible assertions are made without any confirmation.

The Indians, he said, were in contact with the hijackers for seven, eight days and holding negotiations with them. And when all the hostages were freed, then they (Indians) thought of saying this. "I am at a loss to understand this," the minister added.

The minister said, as for entry of these terrorists into Pakistan, the government had issued strict instructions that they should not at all be allowed to enter Pakistan.

"And if they sneak into Pakistan, we, our intelligence agencies and our border scouts are on high alert. They (Hijackers) will be arrested and dealt with under the law. APP