Rahul Gandhi said Ajit Doval was instrumental in releasing Masood Azhar to Pakistan.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi today alleged that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was instrumental in releasing Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as part of negotiations in the 1999 Kandahar hijacking incident. It was this decision, he claimed, that allowed the Pakistan-based terrorist to orchestrate the killing of 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama last month.
"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," the opposition leader tweeted. Two photographs, with Mr Doval circled in both, were attached.
The tweet targeting the Narenda Modi government came a few hours before the Election Commission was expected to announce the schedule for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. A BJP government led by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken the decision to free Masood Azhar, besides two others, to secure the release of over 150 hostages from a Indian Airlines flight hijacked by a Pakistan terrorist group.
The BJP responded to Mr Gandhi with a cutting jibe. "You were probably busy playing video games when the whole nation was praying for the safe return of the hijacked passengers. Do you know that all decisions regarding the hijacking were taken at an all-party meet? Remember Latif, handler of Pathankot, released by UPA as a 'goodwill gesture'?" it said.
The ruling party was referring to 47-year-old Shahid Latif, who is believed to have provided logistical and technical support to four Pakistani terrorists who attacked an Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in 2016. Mr Latif was released from prison by the Manmohan Singh government in 2010.
Twelve days after the Pulwama terror attack, India launched an air strike on a JeM training camp in Balakot on February 26. This spurred Islamabad to send F-16 fighters across the border the next day, resulting in the first aerial dogfight between the two countries since 1971.
On Saturday, the Election Commission sent out notices prohibiting political parties from displaying photographs of military leaders in poll campaigns.