We found no evidence of Qaeda link, says Brajesh

NEW DELHI: Brajesh Mishra, who was national security adviser to the Prime Minister when Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked to Kandahar, said the NDA government had no evidence of a Qaeda link to the incident.

"The only thing we were sure of was that there was a nexus between the hijackers, the Taliban and Pakistan. We know that because the hijackers disappeared into Pakistan after the plane was released," Mishra said.

Bergen had told DNA in an interview in Washington that al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was working behind the scenes to help the Taliban and the hijackers during the negotiations.

"I don’t believe this gentleman," declared Mishra. He pointed out that al-Qaeda and the Taliban have distinct identities and operate independently. There is no question of the Taliban doing anything at al-Qaeda’s bidding, he said.

Mishra recalled that India had sent a negotiating team to Kandahar to talk to the Taliban and the hijackers after India’s high commissioner in Islamabad, G Parthasarthy, established contact with the Taliban.

So, negotiations were over well before then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh reached Kandahar. Following the deal, India released three terrorists, including Masood Azhar.

"There was no question of Jaswant Singh negotiating with the Taliban foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, in Kandahar," Mishra said. "The negotiations were over by the time he left for Afghanistan."

Vikram Sood, special secretary in the Cabinet secretariat, who was also involved in the negotiations, concurred. "It (Bergen’s claim) is plausible, but we had no information that this was the case," he said. "We did not see any link to al-Qaeda in the hijacking."