NEW DELHI, April 12: India’s leading rightwing ideologue and former home minister Lal Kishan Advani had opposed his government’s decision to free the former Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar in bargain for a plane his supporters had hijacked in 1999, news reports said on Tuesday.
United News of India described Mr Advani’s comments in the western Maharashtra state on Tuesday as ‘startling’.
Mr Advani “indicated that he had differed with the decision taken by the NDA regime to release three terrorists, including JeM chief Masood Azhar, in exchange for hijacked IC-184 passengers in 1999 when he was the country’s home minister,” UNI said.
“I had aired my views within the government and would not like to comment on the issue after so many years...it is an old issue,” Mr Advani was quoted as telling reporters during a stopover in a cross-country march he is currently leading.
“Even the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh who took the three terrorists to Kandahar was just implementing the government’s decision,” he added.
Mr Advani began a march on Thursday in tandem with the BJP’s party president Rajnath Singh who simultaneously started a separate journey that coincides with elections in four states.
Mr Singh on his part urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to withdraw from the nuclear deal with the United States, saying the pact in its present form would cripple the country’s nuclear capabilities.
At a news conference in the eastern Jharkhand state, Mr Singh said the Indian government should press the United States to grant India the same waiver as given to China.
“This treaty is complicated and intriguing as it will require the country to act in accordance with US wishes while addressing security needs,” Mr Singh was quoted as saying.
