20000106

Mishra fails to

produce proof

against Pakistan

in hijacking case

ATLANTA: Indian Security Adviser Brijesh Mishra cut a poor performance in a direct TV interview with CNN on Wednesday on the subject of Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's call on the US government to declare Pakistan a terrorist state and the rejection of that call by the US administration.

Brijesh Mishra was asked what concrete evidence India has about the involvement of Pakisan in the Indian Airlines plane hijacking. Mishra said that the evidence was there and would be presented soon.

In the 15-minute interview he could give no concrete evidence linking Pakisan with the plane hijacking.

The Indian Airlines pilot, Captain D. Sharon, interviewed on CNN said that the main lapse was by the Nepalese authorities at Kathmandu. Interestingly, the captain of the Indian airlines aircraft said that he asked for offloading the injured man and some other people from the flight at Lahore but was refused by Pakistan authorities.

The Indian Airlines captain made no such statement to pressmen on arrival on December 31, 1999, in Delhi from Kandahar. But his statements now show that he has been 'debriefed and re-briefed' by the Indian intelligence agency RAW.ÑUPP