U.S. Finds No Pakistani Government Link to India Hijacking

President Clinton said Tuesday that his administration has no evidence implicating the Pakistani government in last month’s hijacking of an Indian Airlines jet despite the role apparently played by a notorious Kashmiri guerrilla group that has received backing from Islamabad.

“We do not have evidence that the Pakistani government was in any way involved in that hijacking,” Clinton told a White House news conference.

Nevertheless, the administration has called on Pakistan to break its ties to Harkat Moujahedeen, which appears to be linked to the hijacking, officials said. The group’s objective is to drive India out of the disputed region of Kashmir.

State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said a U.S. delegation that visited Islamabad last week expressed Washington’s concern about Pakistan’s “general support” for several Kashmiri groups, including Harkat Moujahedeen.

Nevertheless, Rubin and White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart read identical statements saying the administration has “no evidence that the government of Pakistan had foreknowledge of, supported or helped carry out the hijacking.”

By exonerating Pakistan of responsibility for the hijacking, the administration ruled out any sort of punishment for the Islamabad regime, at least unless additional damaging information comes to light. One passenger was killed during the weeklong drama that began Dec. 24.

The Harkat Moujahedeen group, under a previous name, Harkat Ansar, has been on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations since 1997.

The government of India accused Pakistan of planning the hijacking but has offered no proof. The incident has aggravated tensions between India and Pakistan, a development that is especially ominous because the South Asian neighbors both have tested nuclear weapons.

Although the identity of the hijackers is not known, their link to Harkat Moujahedeen seems clear because they demanded the release of a leader of the group, along with two other militants, in exchange for freeing 155 hostages.

“We have been concerned for some time about the fact that agencies of the Pakistani government have provided general support to a number of groups operating in Kashmir, including Harkat Moujahedeen,” Rubin said.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that as a result of the hijacking, the administration was considering placing Pakistan on its list of countries that support terrorism and might exclude Pakistan from a planned trip by Clinton that would take him to India and Bangladesh. But administration officials discounted both suggestions.

Adding Pakistan to the terrorism list--which now names Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, North Korea and Cuba--would prohibit any sort of U.S. aid to Pakistan, including support for loans by the International Monetary Fund and other lending institutions. But officials said such a move is highly unlikely. Pakistan’s ties to Harkat Moujahedeen have been known for years, and the country was not put on the terrorism list because of them.

The newspaper also said Clinton might skip Pakistan during the South Asia trip, expected in March. U.S. officials said a Pakistan stop has been controversial within the administration since Oct. 12, when Gen. Pervez Musharraf seized power in a coup, ousting an elected, although increasingly unpopular, civilian regime.

Officials said that if Pakistan is snubbed--and no decision has been made yet to do that--it would be because of the coup, not because of Pakistan’s general backing for the terrorist group.

Pakistan’s support for the Kashmiri terrorist groups long predates Musharraf’s coup.

Last week, a U.S. delegation headed by Karl F. Inderfurth, assistant secretary of State for South Asia, met with Musharraf in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. Although Rubin declined to reveal details of the meeting, he said, “We certainly raised our concern about Pakistan’s general support for groups like the Harkat Moujahedeen.”