Delhi nudges US: Where’s promised help on IC-814?

With the CBI still not getting access to Taliban leaders or receiving copies of documents recovered by US troops in Kandahar, New Delhi has told Washington that it’s still waiting for the promised help on the IC-814 hijack investigation.

While the issue will be taken up with Christina Rocca, the US pointperson who is reaching New Delhi on Tuesday, a senior official from the US Embassy was called to the MEA and told how Washington’s action hadn’t yet matched its assurances.

Incidentally, the issue of cooperation on the hijack case had been discussed during a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and U S Attorney General John Ashcroft in Washington in June.

Even as the trial against the three conspirators in the hijacking case proceeds in Patiala, CBI officials say the probe is stuck pending the following inputs from the US:

• There has been no access to the deposed Foreign Minister of the Taliban regime, Vakil Ahmed Muttawakeel or other Taliban leaders who facilitated the hijack and the release of Indian militants. The CBI had hoped that US authorities would arrange for Muttawakeel to answer its questionnaire.

• Besides the testimony of Taliban leaders, key evidence like the recording of the ATC tapes at Kandahar haven’t been handed over to the CBI. Officials say the agency has a Letter Rogatory (LR) ready but have little hope of a response from Kabul. The Afghanistan-end of the investigation has thus proved to be a non-starter.

• US troops are said to have recovered travel and identification papers of the hijackers when they raided a Kabul hideout. India had been assured copies but they haven’t arrived. The documents include IC-814 ticket stubs and boarding passes, airport receipts and other travel documents and their recovery showed that after the hijacking drama, the hijackers got sanctuary in Afghanistan.

• There was an American citizen, Jenny Moore, on board the hijacked Indian airliner but three years have gone by and there is no sign of an indictment in the case. India had been assured of an early indictment and this had also been taken up in the Ashcroft-Advani meeting.

On most of these points, New Delhi has had an ongoing dialogue with the Americans but MEA’s gentle nudge is an indication that not much has moved forward.

Following a meeting between CBI Director P C Sharma and FBI Chief Robert Muller in New Delhi, a proposal for the hijackers to be extradited and tried in the USA had also been discussed. India has also told the US authorities that investigating agencies were convinced that the hijackers were residing in Pakistan and around two months ago, an update about their suspected whereabouts was given by the MEA to officials of the Pakistan High Commission.