Rahul Gandhi says 'deal maker' NSA Ajit Doval took Masood Azhar to Kandahar, government sources deny claim

Top government sources also say that Ajit Doval had vehemently opposed releasing of Masood Azhar. It was a political decision to release Masood Azhar, Doval was in no position to take such a decision at the level of Additional DG then.

Rahul Gandhi said "Didn't you send (then Union minister) Jaswant Singh and your National Security Advisor (Ajit Doval) on the same flight? Did you forget that your (party's) government sent this person from India's jail to Kandahar(in Afghanistan)?"/ IMAGE: TWITTER

NEW DELHI: Stepping up attack on the Narendra Modi government over the Pulwama terror strike, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Saturday shared a photograph on Twitter claiming that the current NSA Ajit Doval took Masood Azhar to Afghanistan during the Kandahar hijack. He asked the prime minister to explain to the nation why the then NDA dispensation had released terror outfit JeM chief Masood Azhar from an Indian jail. ABP News sources say that in the pictures tweeted by Rahul Gandhi, Ajit Doval is not with Masood Azhar. The man is the photograph is a Taliban Commanders, with whom Doval was negotiating. It is said that he was in Kandahar on 26th December leading rescue operations and Masood Azhar was brought along by Jaswant Singh on 31st Dec. Top government sources also say that Ajit Doval had vehemently opposed releasing of Masood Azhar. He had sought just 24 hours more assuring to get all hostages released with minimum damage or loss of lives, much of it is mentioned in L K Advani's book 'My Country, My Life'.  It was a political decision to release Masood Azhar, Doval was in no position to take such a decision at the level of Additional DG then.

Govt responds to @RahulGandhi 's Tweet on NSA/Kandahar Episode. Top Govt Sources tell @abpnewstv Cong Pres's allegations unfounded, Ajit Doval had vehemently opposed releasing of Masood Azher, Doval had told Brajesh Mishra not to release Masood Azher..

— Ashish (ABP News) (@AshishSinghLIVE) March 10, 2019

Azhar was released by the Vajpayee government in exchange for passengers of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999. The Kathmandu-New Delhi plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar by Masood Azhar's men. The JeM chief was freed along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Latram' after negotiations with hijackers, in which Doval was involved, failed. The then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took the three terrorists to Kandahar in a special plane to ensure the release of passengers of the hijacked plane. Earlier, raking up the release of Azhar by the Vajpayee dispensation in 1999 in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane, he said Modi should tell the country "how Masood Azhar was sent back (to Pakistan), who sent and which government sent him (back)". "Some days ago CRPF people were killed in Pulwama. I have a small question to the prime minister. Who killed these CRPF jawans? What is the name of the chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed?...Masood Azhar," Gandhi said at a rally here in north Karnataka, where he sounded the party's bugle for the Lok Sabha polls. The Congress chief said, "Modiji makes me understand who sent Masood Azhar from India's jail to Pakistan. Didn't the BJP government send this person from India's jail to Pakistan? "Didn't you send (then Union minister) Jaswant Singh and your National Security Advisor (Ajit Doval) on the same flight? Did you forget that your (party's) government sent this person from India's jail to Kandahar(in Afghanistan)?"

PM Modi please tell the families of our 40 CRPF Shaheeds, who released their murderer, Masood Azhar?

Also tell them that your current NSA was the deal maker, who went to Kandahar to hand the murderer back to Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/hGPmCFJrJC — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 10, 2019

"Why are you not speaking about it in your speeches? Why are you not saying that the person who carried out the bomb blast on CRPF, who killed CRPF jawans was sent back to Pakistan by the BJP government?" Gandhi asked. He told the crowd, "Go to the internet, you can see the photo of Ajit Doval who is the National Security Advisor of Narendra Modi along with Masood Azhar at Kandahar airport." "Modi ji we are not like you, we won't bow in front of terrorism," he said.