$5 cr was paid to end 1999 Kandahar hijacking: Cong

Congress alleged $five crore was paid when terrorist Maulana Azhar Masood was released in exchange of the passengers of the hijacked plane in Kandahar in 1999.

Congress alleged $five crore was paid when terrorist Maulana Azhar Masood was released in exchange of the passengers of the hijacked plane in Kandahar in 1999.

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Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, AICC spokesman Rajiv Shukla said “was (Gujarat CM) Narendra Modi aware of the release of Maulana Azhar Masood and Jaswant Singh accompanying him with a booty of five crore US dollars?”

He alleged Masood used the money to set up Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group and armed it to attack Parliament, Askhardham and Raghunath temples.

Shukla asked Modi if he approved of senior BJP leader LK Advani going to the mazar of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, which no Congress leader ever visited, and “prostrating before it and calling him a secular leader and a great visionary”.

BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar denied knowledge about any money given to the terrorists as alleged by Shukla.

He also rubbished Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that there were 28 prisoners on death row and Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s number was 22.

“There is no queue for death row. He (Afzal) should be immediately hanged. Afzal Guru’s trial and conviction was expedited due to POTA,” Javdekar said.