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MUMBAI: Back in December 1999, the NDA government unnecessarily asked the team negotiating with the Taliban during the Kandahar hijack to hurry up. Had it displayed some patience, the consequence could have been different. This was stated by former director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Ajit Doval, who was a part of the Indian negotiating team at Kandahar. Doval told reporters at the sidelines of a seminar on terrorism organised by the SIES College and the US consulate on Monday, that the negotiating team was trying to buy time from the Taliban which had custody of a planeload of passengers. But the NDA government insisted on early resolution. He was also critical of the media for hyping up protests by the families of the kidnapped passengers in Delhi, but the NDA should not have succumbed to the pressure tactics. “If a surgery is being performed then doctors should not be influenced by the hysterics of the patients’ relatives outside the operation theatre,” he observed. In his keynote address, Doval he has spearheaded several counter-intellience operations in J&K, Punjab and the north-east said there was lack of political will to counter terrorism. He said India had the capacity to deal with terrorists, but the political leadership did not muster up the necessary will to take on anti-national elements. He quoted a study by Belgium-based institute which revealed that 11,500 Pakistani infiltrators had died in the “jihad” against India. Over 95,000 weapons and 7,000 quintals of RDX were seized from them. “If this not war, what is? This is Pakistan’s fourth generation war against India over the past several years,” he said, adding that unless the source of terrorism located in Pakistan was busted, the problem would remain. The ISI was not getting any recruits anymore from Kashmir, but it was getting other people to do its job. Doval said in the past, 368 terrorist movements worldwide had failed. And 90% of these were because their leaders had been neutralised. This aspect needs to be kept in mind when we talk of dealing with terrorism in India. “If you do not surprise the terrorists, then they will surprise you,” he said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/NDA-govts-hurry-led-to-Kandahar-fiasco-Former-IB-boss/articleshow/4956217.cms
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