New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh on Friday refused to speak on Advani's role in the Kandahar anti-hijack operations. " I refused to say anything on the Advani issue," said Singh. Singh's reaction came a day after former National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra said that Advani was aware of all key decisions related to the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane IC-814 to Kandahar in Afghanistan. Mishra rebutted Advani's contention that he was unaware of IC-814 being taken from Amritsar to Kandahar by terrorists. He also rejected the view that Advani did not know that a Cabinet Minister would be flying to Kandahar to secure the release of the hostages in exchange for the three most wanted terrorists. Mishra's views on the Kandahar hijacking comes days after former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh embarrassed Advani by saying that he (Jaswant Singh) "covered" up for him (Advani) when he said that the former Home Minister was not aware that he was going to Kandahar with three terrorists in 1999. He also said Advani was aware of the decision to release of the terrorists in exchange for freedom of over 160 hostages kept in the Indian Airlines plane that was hijacked. "Yes, he did," Singh told the NDTV news channel last Friday when asked whether Advani knew that Singh was going to Kandahar with three terrorists.
-August 28, 2009