Media
claims that arrested
militant Mehrajuddin
Dand, a resident of
Sopore in Baramulla
District, played a key
role in December 24,
1999, hijacking of Indian
Airlines jet, IC-814,
are overblown, Police
and intelligence officials
said, The Hindu
reported on September
14. “In the course of
Mr. Dand’s questioning,”
an unnamed highly-placed
official said, “we came
to believe he may have
information related
to individuals connected
to the hijacking. Those
claims are being verified.
He is not a suspect
in the actual hijacking.”
Also, a Central Bureau
of Investigations (CBI)
official said, “The
CBI has no reason to
believe Mr. Dand was
involved in the plot,
though we will be contacting
the Jammu and Kashmir
Police to see if there
is any relevant new
information now available.”
“I’m a little surprised
to see Mr. Dand described
as a top terrorist,”
a Jammu and Kashmir
Police official said,
adding, “He wasn’t a
top anything.”
Police
sources, however, said
their investigations
are around Dand’s possible
contacts with Arshad
Cheema-an Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI)-linked
Pakistani diplomat who
was expelled from Nepal
in 2001 after authorities
in that country found
16 kilograms of plastic
explosive in his home.
Cheema was spotted at
Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan
airport on the morning
of the hijacking. However,
charges filed by the
CBI against the alleged
hijackers in 2000 did
not claim Cheema had
a role in the hijacking.
Nor do the prosecution’s
documents suggest Dand
—or any other Jammu
and Kashmir resident
— played any part in
the operation.
The
five alleged hijackers-Pakistani
nationals Ibrahim Athar
Alvi, Sunny Ahmad Qazi,
Shahid Saeed Akhtar,
ZahoorIbrahim Mistry
and Farooa Abdul Aziz
Siddiqui — were alleged
to have planned the
hijacking at a meeting
in Bahawalpur in early
1999. Helped by a sixth
Indian Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
(HuM) operative, Abdul
Latif, the militants
obtained Indian passports
and drivers’ licences
from Mumbai (Maharashtra)-based
travel agents and driving-instruction
schools. The group then
moved their weapons
from Dhakato Kathmandu
(Nepal), travelling
overland through India.
Indian authorities say
all the five hijackers
are living in Pakistan
three other men, two
Indians and a Nepali,
are serving prison terms.
Meanwhile,
family of sources Dand
claimed he returned
to India last week,
after spending several
years in Pakistan and
Nepal, following negotiations
with local Police officials.
Hundreds of other former
jihadists living in
Pakistan have returned
to the State in similar
circumstances since
2006, mainly members
of the largely ethnic-Kashmiri
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM).
Zee
News
quoted Inspector General
of Police (Jammu region)
Dilbagh Singh saying
on September 13 that
Mehrajuddin sent ammo
to India for militancy
via diplomats of a specific
country. Mehrajuddin
visited Pakistan many
times with different
passports and identity
every time. He has told
the Jammu and Kashmir
Police that All Party
Hurriyat Conference-Geelani
(APHC-G) chairman Syed
Ali Shah Geelani helped
him get a visa at one
time. The terror suspect,
who was operating for
the last 25 years in
the state, was indoctrinated
by ISI, Singh said.
Daily
Excelsior adds that
Mehrajuddin Dand alias
Javed was stated to
be in Nepal capital
in the office of Pakistan
Embassy along with official
Arshad Ayub when IC-814
flight was hijacked
from Nepal. Sources
said there was also
a possibility that Pakistan
Embassy in Nepal had
been used for pumping
hawala money
and arms into India,
which were used for
fanning terrorism in
the country especially
Jammu and Kashmir. Daand
had frequently traveled
from India to Pakistan
and Nepal on different
identities using passports
and visas arranged for
him (in Pakistan) by
Pakistan Army and ISI
officials. He had a
long list of contacts
in Kashmir Valley, other
parts of country, Pakistan,
Nepal and Saudi Arabia.
As
reported earlier, Mehrajuddin
Dand, a resident of
the north Kashmir town
of Sopore in Baramulla
District, was arrested
by the Police in Kishtwar
District. |
