Cowardly hijacking has shamed our history -- Afghans

Cowardly hijacking has shamed our history -- Afghans
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

LONDON, FEB 8: Afghans may have become used to a violent culture of fighting over the past 20 years but the passengers who boarded the Ariana Boeing 727 could never have expected to be hijacked and flown halfway round the world to a London airport.

The first hijacking of an Afghan airline in the country's war-torn history has become the talk of Kabul with most residents glued to their short-wave radios.

The people of the capital, once a liberal city, who do not approve much of the ultra-orthodox regime of the ruling Taliban, express their anger at the local hijackers. ``We were proud that nobody could trace ordinary Afghans being linked to any global terrorist act. But these guys discredited this record,'' Shah Mahmoud, a local journalist, said.

Afghanistan is a traditional society now under the Islamic fundamentalist rule of the Taliban militia, who seized power in 1996 and are still battling Opposition forces in the North-East. ``This is far, far away from our culture and traditions. It is criminal tomake use of innocent women and children whatever one's demands,'' Mahmoud said.

``There is widespread concern here. In any hostage-taking, lives could be at stake. This is a cowardly act which our traditions cannot approve of,'' said Faisal Enayat, a local aid worker. ``If one has got some legitimate demands, there are other ways of struggling to obtain them,'' he added.

Most of the passengers who boarded the flight Ariana 805 come from villages in northern Afghanistan that have lost their road link with the capital due to fighting over the Hindukush mountain range between the Taliban and their opponents. Other alternate routes are mostly blocked in winter by snow-covered passes.

Among them were 35 members of one family who headed for the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, on Uzbekistan's border, for a wedding. Ariana officials said some of the company's engineers and workers boarded the plane, which was expected to make a return trip back to the Kabul, just as an outing.

Twenty years of incessantfighting since the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation and the ongoing social upheaval have forced many Afghans to leave the country. Many others are still desperate to leave and start a new life in the West.

Here residents speculate that most of the hostages, if released safely, would try to stay in London. ``People are selling their family houses and land to get themselves to Britain. These people got free,'' said an apparently envious Mohammad Sidiq. ``They travelled almost around the world by only spending one million Afghanis ($ 20),'' he said.

The Afghan war has claimed 1.5 million lives and levelled the country to the ground. As a result, people here are not quick to show a public emotional reaction to any tragedy. The Ariana office in Kabul has not been flooded with relatives. Few people expect much from the ruling Taliban, who are still adamant they will not negotiate with the hijackers.