From rxpgnews.com
India clears the air about Pakistani aircraft delay
By IANS,
Feb 23, 2007 - 8:00:26 PM
New Delhi/Islamabad, Feb 23 - Forget conspiracy theories, it was just a technical glitch. So said India Friday as it cleared the air about the 'mysterious' delay in the takeoff of the Pakistani aircraft Thursday night carrying back the seven injured people in the train blasts, even as it asked Islamabad to give access to the survivors to probe the explosions.
'Some media reports suggest that the aircraft was delayed because India wanted an undertaking from Pakistani authorities for access to the evacuated Pakistani passengers for interrogation. This request had been made to Pakistani authorities while conveying the clearance for the aircraft,' external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna said in a statement.
'We drew the attention of the Pakistani authorities to the fact that the terrorist attack on the train is being investigated by Indian police who may wish to take their statements at a later date,' he added.
'It is our hope that the government of Pakistan will facilitate this in the interest of the investigations,' he said.
Sarna, however, clarified that the release of the injured passengers was 'not linked to this nor their evacuation delayed because of it.'
'The aircraft could not take off because it developed a technical glitch. One of its engines developed a problem and had to be repaired by the ground staff of the airport,' he said while referring to nearly six hours a C-130 transport aircraft of Pakistan Air Force had to wait before it could take off at 9.15 p.m.
India has sought access to the survivors as they are prime witnesses to Sunday night's twin blasts on the Delhi-Attari Express, the link train of Samjhauta Express, killing 68 people. Over 600 Lahore-bound passengers, mostly Pakistanis, were travelling in the train.
India had rejected a joint probe into the blasts and has said it will share evidence in the probe when the joint anti-terror mechanism meets in Islamabad March 6.
About the remaining three injured who could not go on the flight, the ministry said that Rana Shaukat Ali, his wife Ruksana and their one-year-old daughter chose to go to Panipat to identify the bodies of their five children who died in the blasts. They were taken to Panipat and will go to Pakistan via the Wagah land border.
'Pakistan High Commission was informed that these three persons would not be going to Pakistan in the special aircraft,' the ministry said while referring to media reports that quoted Tasneem Aslam, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson, saying that the plane was stranded at the airport as it was waiting for the three persons to come.
As the two countries try to resolve differences over questioning survivors of the train blasts, Pakistan's Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid told the national assembly in Islamabad Friday that India was yet to provide a list of Pakistani passengers who died and were injured in the train blasts five days ago.
He added that India had not shared any information with Pakistan regarding its probe into the incident.
The Pakistani mission here confirmed that India has yet to give a formal list of the exact number of the Pakistani nationals who have been injured and killed.
'I understand there are difficulties. But we need to know the facts before we move on to other things,' a Pakistani mission official, who did not wish to be named, told IANS.
However, the Indian external affairs ministry Thursday gave a precise count of the victims: of the 68 dead, 33 bodies have been identified. Twenty-seven of these are Pakistanis. Twenty-one bodies have been handed over to the relatives of those killed.
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