It was good fortune for India to have Atal Bihari Vajpayee lead the government at a crucial moment in our history. He avoided India meeting the fate of Iraq or Ukraine, asserts military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Captain Sharan and Flight Engineer Anil Jaggia both confirm that the hijackers seemed to know a lot about flying an aircraft. Without help from the ISI or the Pakistan army, it was impossible, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha who joined Trinamool Congress on Saturday narrated how West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had offered to go as a hostage in exchange for passengers of Air India's IC 814 that was hijacked by the militants over two decades ago.
Former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh on Saturday defended the National Democratic Alliance government's decision to free three dreaded terrorists to save the lives of 166 hijacked passengers on board an Indian Airlines flight and said governments should always opt for such a decision.
The announcement on the name of Singh, 74, is expected to be made on Monday, when all the partners of the alliance, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, are expected to meet. Senior BJP leaders are of the opinion that the UPA nominee should not be allowed to win uncontested and all Opposition parties should put up a candidate against the ruling Congress-led front.
Former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh recently told The Indian Express that he knew for a fact that Pakistani terrorist Mast Gul, who spearheaded the siege of the Chrar-e-Sharief shrine in Kashmir in 1995, was "escorted to the Line of Control" after he had "vacated the dargah".
Former army, R&AW and IB officers say they were unaware of any deal being struck with the dreaded terrorist Mast Gul during the Chrar-e-Sharief siege in Kashmir in 1995. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, has invited former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh to Pakistan to launch his controversial new book on the country's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, saying it would be a step towards promoting intellectual and people-to-people understanding.
Senior leader and spokesman of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha Ram Madhav's statement that the wall between India and Pakistan would come down like the Wall of Berlin has created ripples, particularly in the RSS circles.
Breaking his decade-long silence, former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday sought to embarrass L K Advani by saying that he "covered" up for him when he said that the former Home Minister was not aware that he was going to Kandahar with three terrorists during the 1999 hijack episode.
Jaswant Singh, currently in Pakistan, spoke about the peace process.
He said the government continued to neglect national security.
Singh did not speak on recent developments in the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation but confined himself to self-explanation during the short duration discussion.
Jaswant Singh again reiterated that he would share the information with the PM.
The BJP on Sunday said its senior party leader L K Advani had never said that he was not aware of the decision to send former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh along with terrorists in an aircraft to Kandahar for release of passengers of a hijacked Indian plane.
The US had virtually compelled the P V Narasimha Rao government in 1995 not to conduct nuclear tests after it got to know about preparations for it, a former US official indicated on Monday.
Former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh said President George W Bush is the principal driving force in this regard.
"It is up to the PM to do whatever is right in the national interest," Singh said.
Party sources said Jaswant Singh has forwarded the letter purportedly written by a US diplomat to a Senator, which has a reference to the 'mole' in the PMO during Rao's tenure.
Singh says: 'In Agra, the critical point was Musharraf's breakfast meeting with Indian editors.'
Jaswant has said that since the PM was a senior minister in that cabinet, he should address the issue.
Over the years, a noticeable unpleasantness began to develop between senior and junior, Sorabjee and Salve. Salve gave credit, for his rise in the profession, to Nani Palkhivala, and not to Sorabjee. This hurt Sorabjee, though he never admitted it.
Upping the ante ahead of Monday's all-party meeting convened by the government, Congress on Saturday insisted that the issue of action against three top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders should be on the agenda if the deadlock in Parliament is to be broken.
'Why are you not saying that the person who killed CRPF jawans was sent to Pakistan by BJP?'
Former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey interrogated Azhar many a times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau.
For two decades after his release in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, Azhar has since been the darling of Pakistan's external snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence.
Contradicting L K Advani, former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh has said the then home minister was aware of the controversial decision about his travelling to Kandahar along with three terrorists released in exchange for the hostages of hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999.
'Taranjit has the ideal temperament to deal with the Americans who understand firmness and appreciate flexibility.' 'He can hold his ground with a cheerful face and still make it clear that India and the US are partners, rivals,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
'Governments, democratically elected governments, are custodians for a short- specified time.' 'Parents don't let baby sitters decide the course of their child's future.'
Brookings Institution tries 'Re-imagining India.' Aziz Haniffa listens in
Vajpayee had always felt that India must act with conviction and panache. He decided that, irrespective of the attendant risks, he would undertake what many felt was a precarious course. A fascinating excerpt from N K Singh's Portraits Of Power: Half A Century Of Being At Ringside on Atalji's 96th birthday, December 25.
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