‘Advani lied to nation on Kandahar’

Two days after he was expelled from the BJP, Jaswant Singh has hit back, alleging that LK Advani was party to the decision to release Masood Azhar and other terrorists and send them to Kandahar in 1999.

Leader of opposition Advani, who was home minister then, had absolved himself of any responsibility in the decision to release the three terrorists. But Singh said Advani was present in the cabinet meeting where the decision was announced. “How could any terrorists be released without the home minister knowing and signing the papers?” Singh remarked in an interview to NDTV. He also held Advani responsible for the failure to intercept the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft in Amritsar. Azhar was released in exchange for about 160 passengers and crew aboard the IC814.

“Why did the aircraft leave Amritsar? Once the aircraft left, the game was lost. Who was responsible for that?” he said.