(From top) Mishra, Vajpayee and Jaswant

New Delhi, Aug. 27: Jaswant Singh ripped the Kandahar veil. Now the claws are out for L.K. Advani.

Former colleagues today pounded the leader of Opposition from all corners, a week after the expelled Jaswant almost called Advani a liar for claiming he wasn’t aware of the decision to fly three terrorists to Kandahar as part of a 1999 hostage swap.

What made the attack politically significant is the close association of these leaders with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who party sources said had conveyed his anguish at Jaswant’s expulsion.

In interviews, Vajpayee’s most trusted aide, Brajesh Mishra, said Advani, then Union home minister, knew Jaswant was flying to the Afghan province with the terrorists to win the freedom of passengers of a hijacked flight.

As if on cue, Yashwant Sinha, a senior member of the Vajpayee cabinet, seconded Mishra and asked Advani to come clean.

Jaswant, expelled last week for a book that went against party ideology, promptly intervened to declare that his former colleagues were saying the truth.

Sources said the pincer attack may have dealt a vital blow to Advani, who is struggling to save his position in the party, roiled by infighting since the humiliating defeat in the elections.

Advani had claimed before the general election that he was opposed to the idea of releasing terrorists and was unaware of the decision to send Jaswant to Kandahar.

But Mishra said all the members of the Cabinet Committee on Security, including Advani, were present at the meeting where the decision was taken.

Mishra also said Jaswant had to go in the same (air force) plane as the militants who were exchanged with 160 people because Pakistan refused to allow two (IAF) planes to cross over”.

He said the initial demand was for 200 million dollars and 39 terrorists but it was brought down to three terrorists during negotiations.

Jaswant, Mishra added, had informed the cabinet committee that the negotiators had requested the presence of somebody very senior who could handle matters if complications arose in Kandahar and said he would go, which the committee agreed to.

Yashwant Sinha

Jaswant today said it was unfortunate that Advani had to be disproved by his own colleagues.

Sinha said the hijack was not a party matter and the truth must be revealed on an issue involving international dimensions.

The former Union minister, who had so far avoided any comment on the infighting within the BJP, also said Jaswant had been treated unfairly and described the process of his expulsion as faulty.

Mishra, who is like a member of the Vajpayee household, went to the extent of saying that the former Prime Minister would never have sacked Jaswant without hearing him.