All are party to IC-814 decision: BJP

NEW DELHI: The decision to release three dreaded terrorists in exchange for passengers of IC-814 in 1999 was taken to secure the lives of passengers aboard the Indian Airlines aircraft, and all major political parties including the Congress had authorized the Vajpayee government to take an appropriate decision, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha said on Friday.

"It was an over-arching decision of the government, in consonance with the mood of the nation. We were not selling a book," Sinha said. As a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security during the hijack period, Sinha was privy to all crucial decisions linked to the hijack.

A S Dulat, chief of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) during the hijack and later advisor to then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has claimed in his new book that the government goofed up in dealing with the hijack.

Sinha, however said all parties were involved in the decision to release the terrorists. "As far as I remember, there were all-party meetings, and also with individual leaders of parties. While the facts of the situation were shared with responsible leaders of opposition parties, everyone said the government is best placed to take a decision, and government was authorized to take the decision," Sinha said. "Dulat is not blaming the political leadership... No advice was given by the CMG in that short time," he added.

"The conscious decision of the government was to protect the passengers and bring them back," Sinha said about the decision to release three terrorists — Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Maulana Masood Azhar -- on New Year's eve to ensure the safe return of passengers.

The BJP, too, rejected Dulat's claims about "goof up" in handling of the hijack case and slammed the Congress for latching on to the allegations. Claiming that the Congress had a "very convenient memory" on Kandahar, party spokesperson M J Akbar said the decision to save hijacked Indians was taken after consultations with everyone. "It is regrettable, but perhaps their (Congress's) occasional amnesia, where it suits them. On Kandahar, consultations were held at the highest level by senior leaders of NDA. It was a national crisis. In the spirit of the Vajpayee government, consultations were held with all the parties," he said.

"Since Congress has raised it, I challenge it to answer one question: Should those around 200 Indians have been allowed to die? Please ask them this question and please ask them to respond," he added.

BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma accused Congress of raking up "dead issues" for its political survival and charged the opposition party with allowing Warren Andersen, who he said was responsible for thousands of deaths in the Bhopal gas tragedy, to escape scot-free. "Congress is devoid of issues and is trying to borrow them and rake up dead issues," Sharma said.