ISLAMABAD, Dec 27 -- Pakistan said on Monday an Indian intelligence agent was on board a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in Afghanistan in the latest propaganda salvo between the arch-rivals over the four-day-old hijacking.
But a Foreign Ministry spokesman who made the charge declined to identify the alleged spy, who he said belonged to India's Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency."I have just now been told by a reliable source that an Indian RAW agent is on board the aircraft," spokesman Tariq Altaf told reporters during a news briefing.
He also declined to say whether the agent was among the five armed hijackers who commandeered the Airbus A-300 jet during a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi on Friday or among the 155 hostages they are holding inside the plane, now parked at Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan.
Asked for more details about the alleged agent, Altaf only said: "He is a RAW agent. Very soon you will find out more details."
The statement follows one by Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar on Sunday accusing India of trying to use the hijacking as propaganda to vilify Pakistan, whom New Delhi accuses of training and arming Moslem militants fighting its rule in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Islamabad denies the charge and says it gives only moral and political support to the militants seeking independence or union with Pakistan.
The five hijackers have demanded the release of a Pakistani Islamic scholar and some of his colleagues jailed by India for links with the 10-year-old Kashmiri revolt.
But an alliance of Kashmiri militant groups have denounced the hijacking and said none of them was involved.
Altaf said Pakistan was very concerned about the hijack because the Indian government "appears to be least active" to settle the crisis.
He said Pakistan had given permission to India for the second time in two days to fly a plane through Pakistani air space carrying officials to Kandahar for possible negotiations with the hijackers, but no such plane had yet arrived in Kandahar.
Altaf said New Delhi had told Islamabad that 20 to 25 officials would be on board its flight but no commandoes for any rescue operation.
But an Indian Airlines official in New Delhi said a plane taking Indian negotiators to Afghanistan took off from New Delhi for a second time later on Monday after turning back due to a technical snag.
Altaf said Pakistan was opposed to all kinds of terrorism, including hijacking, but "India wants to establish some kind of a nexus" between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Islamic fundamentalism. "It's mystery."