NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Rediff Shopping

Shop & gift from thousands of products!   Books     Music       Apparel   Jewellery   Flowers   More..      Safe Shopping

1971 IA hijacker wants to return, stand trial

Sheikh Manzoor Ahmad in Geneva

Holland-based Kashmiri separatist leader Hashim Qureshi who masterminded the hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Lahore in 1971, has decided to return to India in October to stand trial.

"I am ready to face trial in the hijacking case. I want to go back even if the court awards me death sentence. The case is still pending in the Kotibagh police station in Srinagar," 46-year-old Hashim, chairman of the Democratic Liberation Front, said.

"I want to go back to my motherland. I want to die in my own land. People send their children to Europe for studies but I am sending my children to Kashmir so that they do not lose connection with their roots," Hashim said.

Hashim was seventeen years old when he, along with his cousin Ashraf Qureshi, hijacked a Fokker Friendship aircraft from Srinagar to Lahore. The aircraft was blown up by the Pakistanis and both Hashim and his cousin were taken in a procession from the Lahore airport.

He was later sentenced to life imprisonment by a commission of inquiry set up by the Pakistani authorities, which investigated the hijacking episode. After spending ten years in Pakistani jails, he fled to Holland and took refuge there.

Asked why he had left Pakistan, Hashim said the Inter Services Intelligence was forcing him to influence Kashmiri youth to indulge in militant activities in the valley adding that this 'misadventure' by Pakistan would destroy Kashmir.

Hashim who was in Geneva to participate in meeting of the United Nations Sub-commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, said a gun culture and violence were no solution to the Kashmir problem. For the last ten years, I have been advocating the need to resolve the problem through peaceful negotiations, he added.

He is of the opinion that to achieve permanent peace in Kashmir, it was essential to involve all concerned parties in a negotiated settlement.

Condemning violence in the troubled state, he said even militants belonging to different factions were killing one another. "Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front people get killed by the Hizbul Mujahideen. The Lashkar-e-tayiba and Hizb clash against each other. The situation has reached a stage where those who, at one time, raised their guns for 'azadi' (independence) are now either playing into the hands of India or Pakistan. The common Kashmiri has been left friendless and his voice has been buried under the sound of bombs and bullets."

No third party was in a position to resolve the Kashmir issue. In fact, India, Pakistan and Kashmiris must sit together to discuss the problem, he said. "It is a test for the Indian government to see how they can convert the Kargil victory into a successful resolution of the Kashmir problem."

During his stay in Geneva, Hashim Qureshi met Kashmiri separatist leaders based in Pakistan and representatives of various non-government organisations of India and discussed with them the current political situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said he had suggested to Indian and Pakistani leaders that both countries grant autonomy to the areas under their control, retaining only the portfolios of defence, external affairs and finance, for a period of ten years.

He also said that people from either side should be allowed to move freely across the entire state without any restriction. The ten-year period would enable India and Pakistan to sort out the problems, he felt.

Hashim is also a strong advocate of independence for Kashmir and says the UN resolution had reduced the choice for Kashmiris and forced them to choose between India and Pakistan.

"Supporting the UN resolution means intellectual bankruptcy," he opines.

UNI

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report