27 back, one more released but no end to trauma

27 back, one more released but no end to trauma
AGENCIES

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 25: More than 30 hours after the hijacking of the Indian Airlines aircraft, 160 passengers and crew continued to be held hostage by the hijackers at Kandahar in Afghanistan demanding release of some Kashmiri militants but Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee talked tough saying the government would "not bend before such a show of terror". In a late night development, the hijackers released one more passenger, a diabetic, for treatment at the Kandahar international airport hospital, an official at the Air Traffic Control in Kandahar said.

When contacted over satellite phone from here, the official told newsmen negotiations were continuing between the hijackers and Afghan authorities, while food, water and medicine was being supplied on a regular basis.Refuelling of the plane has not been carried out so far and the hijackers have not expressed any intention to take the seized aircraft to Kabul, he said in reply to questions.

The official said the aircraft would remain in Kandahar for the night and the hijackers have no permission to travel anywhere else in the country.He said the hijackers were given permission to take the aircraft to Zurich but they have refused to take off from Afghanistan.

"The Afghan authorities will never allow the hijacked aircraft to go anywhere within the country," he said.

The official said all the passengers were safe and were given all support like food, medicines and blankets. It was not very cold in Kandahar, he added.

The official said the hijackers have demanded release of some of the militants held in the "Kashmir war" and once it was conceded they would be allowed to travel back to Delhi.

He said Kandahar had facilities for landing and take-off in the night.Asked if anybody would be able to rescue the hostages and if any gun shots had been heard, the official said nobody has been allowed to go near the aircraft and there was no gun shot heard.

The other solace today came in the form of a special plane which, carrying 27 passengers released in Dubai by the hijackers, landed in New Delhi at about 2215 hrs.

Highly emotional scenes were witnessed when the plane, which also carried the body of a passenger, Rupin Katyal, killed by hijackers, touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav, who airdashed to Dubai to receive the released passengers, also travelled in the plane, sent from Delhi to bring back those released early this morning before the hijacked plane flew to Kandahar.

Anxious relatives, waiting since last evening, broke down on seeing their near and dear ones, who looked tired, agonised and traumatised.

The passengers have said the hijackers include three Kashmiris, one Afghani and a Nepali. They were reported to be armed with a hand grenade, one rifle and khukris. They also said the deceased 24-year-old businessman Rupin Katyal was stabbed by the hijackers at Minhat airbase between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, the hijackers have demanded that New Delhi should release a Pakistani religious leader identified as Maulana Masood Azad and several Kashmiri militants from Indian jails.

The cabinet committee on security met and reviewed the crisis under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister after which External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said further "developments" were expected to take shape tomorrow morning and "prudent and effective" steps were being taken for safety and security of the passengers and crew.

"It is our expectation that developments are likely to begin to take shape sometime tomorrow morning," Singh told reporters Vajpayee reviewed the situation on the hijack front with some of his cabinet colleagues.Singh declined to elaborate to persistent queries whether he was hinting at specific action being taken to terminate the hijacking drama.

He dismissed as "speculative" reports that the hijackers were contemplating to take off from Kandahar for Kabul and said that the aircraft had not been refuelled and food and blankets had been sent for the passengers and crew. Earlier in the day, after agonising stopovers at Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, the plane landed in Kandahar, the headquarters town of the Taliban militia, where it landed at 0833 hours IST.

Soon after landing, the plane was surrounded by military vehicles and Taliban initially said that India wanted launching of a rescue operation but they found it "too risky".

Taliban foreign minister Maulvi Wakil Mutawakil said after Jaswant Singh established contact with him the militia was considering the Indian request for a rescue operation.