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Naxal release of kidnapped cop similar to Kandahar, Rubaiya episodes: W Bengal Home Secretary |
West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu
Sen has said that the release of kidnapped West Bengal police officer Attindranath
Dutta in exchange for 22 Maoist prisoners can be compared to the 1999-2000 Kandahar
hijack episode. Sen reportedly said there was no other option but to give in to
the Naxals demand for releasing 22 suspects. Justifying the decision, Sen said
India is a soft state, and that there are precedents in the past. He cited the
release of terrorists in the Kandahar hijack case and the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping
case. In the Kandahar hijack case, it maybe recalled that Indian Airlines Flight
814 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu , Nepal , to Indira
Gandhi International Airport in Delhi , was hijacked by five Pakistan nationals
on December 24, 1999 by the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, a Pakistan-based militant group.
The aircraft was hijacked by armed gunmen shortly after it entered Indian airspace
at about 5:30 p.m. After touching down in Amritsar , Lahore and Dubai , the hijackers
forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar , Afghanistan . The hijackers released
27 of 176 passengers in Dubai but fatally stabbed one and wounded several others.
India 's lack of recognition of the Taliban-regime in Afghanistan complicated
negotiations between Indian authorities and the hijackers. The hijacking lasted
for seven days and ended after India released three Islamic militants — Mushtaq
Ahmed Zargar , Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (who was later arrested for the murder
of Daniel Pearl ) and Maulana Masood Azhar (who later founded Jaish-e-Mohammed).
The kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed took place on December 8, 1989 . It was an act
carried out by members of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, a Kashmiri Muslim
militant organization. Rubaiya was the daughter of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the
then Home minister of India in the V. P. Singh government. The kidnappers then
had demanded the release of five of their comrades in exchange for Rubaiya's release.
The government accepted their demands and freed the jailed terrorists. Rubaiya
was kidnapped within five days of her father becoming the first Muslim Home Minister
of India. Rubaiya, then 23 years old, was the unmarried third daughter of Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed. She was then a medical intern at Lal Ded Memorial Women’s Hospital.
BJP spokesperson Nalin Kohli , however, rejected this premise, saying the Kandahar
episode cannot be compared with the prisoner swap that the West Bengal government
has been involved with for the release of kidnapped cop. |
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