ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 15 December 2002 — Pakistan yesterday freed from house arrest the leader of a militant anti-India party drawing furious criticism from New Delhi. India also alleged that it had found a Pakistani surface-to-air missile in the northern Kashmir state.
The Pakistani government freed Maulana Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a group President Pervez Musharraf outlawed a year ago for fighting an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir, after a court order. Azhar was placed under house arrest in the Punjab city of Bahawalpur in December, 2001.
Under a Public Safety Act, Azhar’s arrest has come up for review by a special judicial commission every three months. Yesterday, a three-member review board of the Lahore High Court rejected a request by the Punjab Home Department to extend his detention for another three months, saying there were no grounds to keep him in detention any further.
Azhar was one of three men released from an Indian prison in a barter deal with New Delhi after an Indian airliner was hijacked in late 1999 and flown to Kabul, where the then-ruling Taleban government helped to negotiate a settlement.
“It is quite clear that investigation and charges against Masood Azhar have not been pursued by Pakistani authorities with any seriousness,” an Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman said in a statement.
Azhar was allowed contact with his cadres when in prison, later conveniently detained at home while his family received money from Pakistan authorities, it said.
In Kashmir, Indian soldiers discovered a Pakistani surface-to-air missile in a suspected militant hideout, the first such seizure in 13 years. The heat-seeking missile was found Friday in a rural area in the border district of Kupwara, a senior army officer said. The 15-kg (33-pound) missile, with a 10-kg (22-pound) warhead, was wrapped in plastic and buried in the Mallarpur forest, the officer said. It could be used in attacks on aircraft, he said, adding that it was labeled “ANZA MK 1.”
According to British military journal Jane’s Defense Weekly, the Anza Mark 1 missile is manufactured in Pakistan. It has a maximum range of 4.2 km (2.6 miles) and a speed of 500 meters (1,640 feet) per second.
“I don’t believe what they (the Indian officers) are saying is true,” said Gen. Rashid Qureshi, a spokesman for the Pakistani Army and President Musharraf. “Even if it were true, however, the whole world is using Kalashnikovs and Stinger missiles. Do you blame the US or Russia or anyone else each time someone is found with one of those?” he asked.
