Declare Pakistan a terrorist state

NEW DELHI, Jan 3: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee urged major nations of the world today to declare neighbouring Pakistan a terrorist state, saying his government would work toward that objective and hoped the United States would spearhead it, reports AP.

Vajpayee said the government had information making it clear that the eight-day Indian Airlines hijacking that ended Dec 31, with one passenger stabbed to death, was an "integral part of the Pakistan-backed campaign of terrorism."

However, Vajpayee provided no details on the information India says it has of Pakistani involvement.

Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told a press conference on Saturday that the hijackers - masked throughout the event - were Pakistanis and that they had fled to Pakistan after India traded three prisoners suspected of terrorism for the lives of the 155 hostages.

Pakistan has denied Indian allegations that it is a terrorist state and backed the hijackers. It has said the hijackers did not come to Pakistan and would be arrested if they did.

Chatting with reporters during a visit to a science congress at the University of Pune in southwestern India, Vajpayee said, "Pakistan's active and sustained role in fomenting terrorism in India is now too obvious to be overlooked by the international community.

"India, therefore, strongly urges major nations of the world to declare Pakistan a terrorist state," he said. "Our government will work systematically toward this objective.

"I hope the United States would take an initiative in this regard," he added.

Vajpayee said it appeared during the hostage crisis that the Taliban movement that controls most of Afghanistan, where the plane eventually landed, had been helpful.

"So we have tried to develop a better understanding with them," Vajpayee said. "However, it also looks that they seemed to have sympathy for the hijackers."

Vajpayee's comments were part of a series of strong statements by Indian leaders against Pakistan in the wake of the hijacking, which began Dec 24 on a flight from Katmandu, Nepal to New Delhi.

The statements have not been accompanied by any proof that can be independently verified.

On Sunday, National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra appeared on television to say Pakistan had links with the five men who hijacked the Airbus A-300 jetliner.

He told independent Star TV that Indian intelligence intercepted several radio conversations between militant groups in Kashmir that confirmed Pakistan's involvement.

Mishra claimed that in one of the messages intercepted by New Delhi - a discussion between members of two different separatist organizations - one man asked why the other had condemned the hijacking, saying that the hijackers were acting on the instructions of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan said today it had no news on the whereabouts of the hijackers and three militants who disappeared after the hijack drama.

Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider also described as "very irresponsible" Indian allega-tions that the hijackers were Pakistani nationals who had crossed back into the country.