UPDATE:Taleban leaders order hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft out of country

Airline Industry Information, Dec 29, 1999

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

(Corrects name of carrier in headline. Adds details on negotiating team and passing of hijackers' deadline - paragraph 2. Corrects number of hijackers - paragraph 8. Further updates - paragraph 9 & 10.)

A team of seven Indian negotiators arrived in Afghanistan to commence negotiations with the six men hijacking an Indian Airlines aircraft on 27 December.

The team of Indian experts started negotiations with the men, who have been identified as Kashmiri militants, via radio from the control tower at Kandahar airport where the hijacked aircraft is currently located. The hijackers had threatened to start executing some of the 160 or so passengers remaining onboard, however it appears that no-one has been injured though the 0810GMT deadline given for their demands to be met has passed. The Taleban, who rule most of Afghanistan and have the aircraft surrounded, indicated that they would storm the aircraft if the hijackers did start killing hostages. There has been no indication of a new time line being set by the hijackers.

The Indian Airlines Airbus A300 carrying about 178 passengers and 11 crew was hijacked by the six men during a flight from Kathmandu, Nepal to India on 24 December and since that time has made several landings until finally stopping in the Taleban-controlled Afghanistan.

On Friday morning the aircraft left Nepal and then stopped in Amritsar, India; then again in Lahore, Pakistan where it refuelled; followed by a landing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for further refuelling and again in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where negotiators for the United Nations (UN) have been attempting to negotiate with the hijackers.

So far one person has been confirmed dead and the body flown to India, along with the 27 people released on 25 December in Dubai and one further passenger who was also released as a `goodwill gesture` on 26 December after negotiations with the UN.

News reports on 27 December indicated that the aircraft required repair work before it could depart from Kandahar and it appears that the aircraft flying in the Indian negotiators also had essential spare parts onboard. The Indians also brought with then doctors, another cockpit crew and relief supplies for the remaining hostages.

The hijackers have apparently indicated that they would like to fly onto the Afghan capital of Kabul, but the Taleban have told them they must surrender or move on. However, the hijackers threw a note out of the aircraft on 26 December indicating that the aircraft would be blown up if they were forced to leave Afghanistan.

The hijackers were initially identified as five Kashmiri militants, but the Press Trust of India reported on 27 December that there were six hijackers, not five. The six have been identified S. A. Qazi, Ahmed Sheikh, Ibrahim Mistri, Sayed Akhtar Saqid (all Pakistani), Gopal Tamrakar (Nepalese) and an unidentified Afghan. The men are demanding the release of their religious leader Maulana Masood Azhar, as well as several Kashmiri militants currently imprisoned in India. They also want a resolution to the 52-year-old conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. The hijackers have also demanded asylum in Afghanistan in return for the release of the hostages. This latter request has been refused by the Taleban who want no involvement in the issue and only let the aircraft land due to humanitarian concerns.

An unauthenticated fax has been received in Pakistan stating that the Al-Qaida group of suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden is not involved in the hijacking.

The fax also blamed India for staging the hijacking in an attempt to sully the name of the Taleban and Pakistan according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, Iran has condemned the hijacking and has offered assistance with negotiating to end the crisis. The Nepali Foreign Minister has asked the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to secure the release of the hostages, with eight Nepalese still on the aircraft.

The Indian government is apparently considering the release of the prisoners as demanded, while Taleban authorities have refused to negotiate with the hijackers, which prompted the UN involvement at the request of both the Taleban and India.

The passengers on board the aircraft are of varying nationalities including one American, one Australian, one Canadian, one Belgian, one Italian, one Japanese, two French, four Spanish, four Swiss, eight Nepalese and 154 Indians.

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