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Josy Joseph in New Delhi
India wants the United States to quiz Afghanistan foreign minister under the Taliban regime, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, on the IC 814 hijack.
Muttawakil is presently under US custody.
Muttawakil played an important and 'adverse' role during the hijack leaving the then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh red-faced by going back on several commitments made during the negotiations with the hijackers.
Wakil, who acted as an interlocutor at Kandahar after the IC 814 plane landed there, was also 'hostile' during the negotiations.
He had assured Jaswant Singh, who landed in Kandahar with the three terrorists (Maulana Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar), that the hijackers and the terrorists would be held in Afghan custody until all the Indians left Kandahar.
However, the hijackers were given a jeep in which they victoriously drove away.
India believes Muttawakil would be able to shed more details into the intricacies of the hijack, contacts that hijackers had with outside world, including instructions and logistical support they received from Pakistan.
India made its request to the Americans to quiz Muttawakil during the Indo-US Joint Working Group on terrorism meet held on July 11 and 12 in Washington.
A questionnaire containing Indian queries is expected to be handed over to the US soon.
India has for long tried to get permission to quiz the Taliban and the Al Qaida prisoners in US custody.
India has also requested that its investigators be allowed access to interrogation reports of the terrorists.
Muttawakil is the senior most Taliban leader in US custody. It is believed that he was handed over to the US by local chieftains of Kandahar in early February, after he surrendered to them.
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