Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) Home Minister P. Chidambaram Wednesday admitted that a “genuine oversight” had led to the inclusion of terror suspect Wazhul Qamar Khan in the “most wanted” fugitive list despite his actually living in Thane.

“Obviously there was a mistake. We are not blaming any one,” Chidambaram told reporters said here, a day after it became known that the government had goofed up on the terror list that was handed over to Pakistan for tracking 50 criminals allegedly hiding in that country.

The home minister said “it was a genuine human error, a genuine oversight and we regret that”.

He said the Mumbai Police “did not formally inform the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about Khan’s arrest”.

But the Mumbai Police had informed the state’s Intelligence Bureau about it. “That dot was not connected. The information was available but the dots were not connected,” he said, adding the CBI should have removed his profile from the most wanted page of its website.

He lashed out at the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for calling it a “monumental mistake”.

“This is not a monumental error,” he said, and added that it could be called a “monumental error” when the then foreign minister accompanied three terrorists to Kandahar in Afghanistan and released them in 1999 in exchange for Air India passengers being held hostage.

He was referring to the 1999 IC 814 hijack when BJP minister Jaswant Singh flew with terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar to Kandahar and secured the released of hostaged Air India passengers.

He said there was no reaction from Pakistan about the mistake as the list was given to Islamabad in 2007. “Human errors do occur. I am satisfied this was a genuine oversight,” he repeatedly told journalists.

Chidambaram said the CBI has now deleted its website profile of Khan whose name was 41st in the list of fugitives, who include underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, his 20 aides, 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and dreaded terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

On CBI’s website, Khan’s profile figured on the page of fugitives against whom there are pending Interpol red corner notices and who are wanted for terror bombings in India.

However, the profile was removed immediately after it became known that the government had goofed up on the list.

Khan is accused of involvement in at least four terror blasts and is now awaiting trial for his role as a foot soldier in executing them. He was arrested in May last year but released on bail two months later. He has been living in Maharashtra’s Thane district since.