Former US Envoy questions 'facts' in Advani's book

WHO, ME? Robert Blackwill said that he was at Harvard when Advani allegedly appealed to him for help.

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New Delhi: There have been many different reactions to L K Advani’s book My Country, My Life. Now, however, some of the facts stated in the book have been called into question.

Former US Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill has said that L K Advani is wrong in naming him as the man he spoke to in the US Embassy when he had sought American help during the Kandahar hijack.

Advani has written:

“When the aircraft landed in Dubai, I spoke to Robert Blackwill, the US Ambassador in India, seeking urgent American assistance.

“I sensed that the Americans, with their considerable military presence and diplomatic influence in the Gulf Region, could have taken some effective pro-active steps to put the hijacked plane out of action so that Indian commandos could be sent there to rescue the hostages.

“I was deeply disappointed that they did not even try. A few days after the crisis, when Blackwill called on me, I expressed my displeasure to him. ‘This is not what we understand by Indo-US co-operation in fighting terrorism,’ I told him.”

Robert Blackwill has exonerated himself of blame.

“When I was ambassador here, Mr Advani on several occasions described this episode to me, along the line of his efforts to solicit American help during that crisis – help in Dubai in giving perhaps Indian commandos access to the plane and so forth – and his enormous frustration that the administration was unresponsive,” he said.

“And I looked into it a bit and it is my opinion that the administration WAS unresponsive. But of course, it was 1999 and I was happily at Harvard during that time,” he added.