NEW DELHI: Pakistan has declined to return five Sikh hijackers of an Indian Airlines Airbus on a Srinagar Delhi flight in 1991. The External Affairs Minister, Panjab, Mukherjee, told the Rajya Sabha during question hour last week that the hijackers were reportedly tried by Pakistani courts and sentenced, He Said there were reports that the hijackers had since been pardoned. Another reply, Mukherjee said that Pakistan is constricting a 40 mw nuclear research reactor with the help of China at Khusab. The Pakistan Prime Minister, Ms. Benazir Bhutto, during her visit to Washington in April, acknowledged that the Khushab project involved a small reactor for experimental purposes.
The Government regard Pakistan’s anti-India campaign and it efforts to internationalize the issue to be in contravention of the spirit of the Simla Agreement. These negative actions of Pakistan vitiate the atmosphere of bilateral relations and run counter to universally accepted norms of interstate relations.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 26, 1995
