Kandahar was Cabinet decision, Advani may have forgotten: Jaswant

Kandahar was Cabinet decision, Advani may have forgotten: Jaswant

Express news service

Posted online: Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 2349 hrs IST

New Delhi, May 10
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh on Saturday said the decision to send him to Kandahar in 1999 during the Indian Airlines plane hijack crisis was taken by Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). “It was a decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security,” Singh told a press conference when asked about the then External Affairs Minister accompanying three terrorists to Kandahar to seek release of 156 people held hostage on the hijacked plane.

When asked about Advani’s remarks that he was not aware about his going to Kandahar, as “CCS had not taken any such decision”, Singh said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha “‘would either have forgotten or have been absent from the meeting”.

Pressed further on the issue, Singh said he was not seeking to refute what his “leader” had said. “Do you expect me to refute what Advaniji has said? How can I say that my leader (Advani) is not correct? How can the leader be wrong? Whatever he is saying is correct,” he said.

“The first priority decided at the meeting of all parties was the security of the passengers and their early release,” he added.

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Kandahar was Cabinet decision, Advani may have forgotten: Jaswant Express news service Posted online: Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 2349 hrs IST New Delhi, May 10 Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh on Saturday said the decision to send him to Kandahar in 1999 during the Indian Airlines plane hijack crisis was taken by Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). “It was a decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security,” Singh told a press conference when asked about the then External Affairs Minister accompanying three terrorists to Kandahar to seek release of 156 people held hostage on the hijacked plane. When asked about Advani’s remarks that he was not aware about his going to Kandahar, as “CCS had not taken any such decision”, Singh said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha “‘would either have forgotten or have been absent from the meeting”. Pressed further on the issue, Singh said he was not seeking to refute what his “leader” had said. “Do you expect me to refute what Advaniji has said? How can I say that my leader (Advani) is not correct? How can the leader be wrong? Whatever he is saying is correct,” he said. “The first priority decided at the meeting of all parties was the security of the passengers and their early release,” he added.