The decision on allowing the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814 to leave Amritsar's Raja Sansi Airport was not taken at the political level but at the administrative level, according to a senior official source in the government.
The decision has drawn a lot of criticism from security experts since it lost the country crucial time and control over the plane that would have been in Indian territory had it been prevented from flying off to Lahore on Friday evening.
The plane proceeded from Lahore to Afghanistan and has been stationed at the Kandhar Airport since Friday night. Kandhar is controlled by the Taliban government, which is not recognised by India.
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The source did not specify whether the political leadership had taken a decision on detaining the plane. However, he sought to defend the decision on grounds of it being a choice between the people on board being killed by the hijackers, or allowing the plane to proceed to a new destination.
A delayed flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi, the plane was hijacked while flying over Lucknow on Friday evening. It first landed at Amritsar where the hijackers demanded that plane be refuelled.
There were contradictory reports on the hijackers move to take off from Amritsar. External affairs minister Jaswant Singh yesterday said the "expertise and specialisation" of the hijackers was indicated by the fact that when the refuelling tanker approached the aircraft, the terrorists ordered the pilot to immediately take off for Lahore.
This contradicts the statement of an injured passenger who was released by the hijackers on early Saturday. The passenger, who received treatment for stab wounds inflicted on him by one of the hijackers, yesterday told journalists that he and the deceased Rupen Katyal were attacked after the hijackers were enraged over delay in the supply of "something that they had asked for" from the airport authority at Amritsar.
Jaswant Singh also stated that "we are mindful of the observation" that the plane should not have been allowed to leave. The minister's statement could be interpreted as admission of a mistake at the Amritsar airport.
Jaswant Singh told reporters that initial reports from Kathmandu indicated the possibility that the five hijackers had arrived at the Kathmandu airport on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight and getting into the departure lounge for the IC 814 flight where somebody had booked five seats on one name.
He said the Nepal government had started an inquiry into the matter and would soon submit a report.
All-party meet on hijacking
The government has called an all-party meeting today to discuss the options available to resolve the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane.
The meeting was scheduled for the evening, but had to be postponed till this morning to allow leaders of several political parties to rea