Jaswant Singh is one of the few Indian politicians to have been the Minister for Defence, Finance and External Affairs. A self described social democrat, he is also one of the few BJP leaders who don’t belong to the Parivar (I mean “Sangh” ). It was rumored that he was Vajpayee’s first choice as Finance Minister , but was vetoed by “folks @ Nagpur” ( 7 Race course Road power centre for BJP). Even though, his performance during NDA rule was quite creditworthy, his critics say his lasting legacy was the picture of India’s External Affairs Minister escorting Terrorists to Kandahar, which according to me is highly unfair.
The purpose of this essay is not to go into the merits or demerits of his Kandahar Trip. But rather this is an attempt in analyzing his thought process during those tense moments of Kandahar hijack episode. I did see his NDTV interview on that episode after 26/11. He said his decision w.r.t Kandahar was taken with the principle, that the lives of 166 people who were held hostage in that Indian Airlines plane are precious. You can’t argue with that.
Let us go back in time machine and be flies on the wall in the meeting room of Cabinet (i.e. GOI Cabinet ministerial meeting room.)
You could hear, Mr. Singh in his baritone voice, arguing for the exchange of terrorists in lieu of hostages. His arguments are really impressive.
Lives of 166 people vs. the harm Mazood Azhar and his two colleagues can bring to India. The first part is absolutely certain. As someone who bored even Strobe Talbot to death and agreement in marathon negotiations about Indo – US friendship, Mr. Singh can talk to the folks at Kandahar and ensure the safety of our citizens. For the second part of the equation, we need to bring in people who are good in Probability theory as well as sooth saying. Who knows, transformed by the magnanimity offered by Govt. Of India, L.K. Advani and Jaswant Singh, Mazood Azhar might decide to turn into a “Father Theresa” and serve the humanity here after. If he goes back to his old ways, then let us keep requesting Pakistan governments (plural is intended, because at any point of time, Pakistan is known to be ruled by 5 – 6 power centers!) to return him to India, so that any future Govt. @ Delhi can use him as exchange material for future hostage crises.
So it was quite an easy decision to make. A certain present vs. “an uncertain future”.
Send Mazood Azhar to Kandahar. “Curtain” on Act 1.
Come back to the present interview. We should salute the integrity of Mr. Singh who did own up the responsibility of the act. (Unlike Mr. Advani who t don’t (can’t ) remember that episode at all, even though he wrote an 800 odd page volume about rest of his life (except the Kandahar). ). Also we should appreciate the value Mr. Singh ascribes to Lives of Indian citizens. He was not a soothsayer to predict that instead of those 166 lives we saved @ Kandahar, Mazood Azhar took away a bigger number through the mad acts of his lunatic Fanatics.
What I really don’t appreciate ( & understand ) is the second part of the statement which said “if a Kandahar hijack-like situation arose again, he would do the same (release terrorists in lieu of hostages)”.
There is a fair chance that Mr. Singh may return as a Cabinet Minister in the next government. (Either if Advani gets lucky or MMS does an Obama act). Now those terrorists know what to do. Whether we have a TADA /POTA/ Strongest Law in the entire universe (which I would call a – Run – JET LI law), hijack a plane /bus / auto rickshaw, and fax/email the demands to the Govt.
Govt. Of India should appoint a Protocol Officer to take care of such requests and exchange procedures, instead of assigning the responsibility of escorting the released prisoners to External Affairs Minister…
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