HT Archive Terror in the sky: IC-814 hijacked, flown to Kandahar

INdian Airlines flight of steps IC-814 with 190 passengers and crew was hijacked after entering native american air space on fri. After a seven-hour journeying across three countries, the aircraft landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where hostages remained on board on Christmas Day.The Airbus A300 took off from Tribhuvan International airport, Kathmandu, at 4.25pm, two hours behind schedule. It was hijacked at 4.55pm as it entered Indian airspace for its descent to Lucknow. The hijackers, identified as a group linked to Kashmir militants, have demanded the release of five jailed colleagues.The aircraft entered Pakistan airspace at 6.20pm and was refused permission to land at Lahore. By 6.40pm, Chandigarh, Jammu and Amritsar airports were put on high alert. The aircraft returned to Indian airspace at 6.50pm. At 7pm, the flight hovered over Amritsar with just 20 minutes of fuel. The hijackers agreed to land for refuelling at 7.10pm.The aircraft landed at Amritsar at 7.20pm, surrounded by the police. By 7.30pm, the hijackers threatened to start killing passengers. Refuelling began. At 7.35pm, pilot D Sharan told Air Traffic Control that the hijackers would kill passengers if refuelling stopped.The plane took off from Amritsar at 7.49pm with barely 10 minutes of fuel and landed at Lahore at 8.20pm. The hijackers released 27 passengers, mainly women and children, in Dubai and one diabetic patient in Kandahar, apart from the body of Rupin Katyal who had been stabbed. Those released in Dubai reached Delhi late tonight.Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil said a hijacker, Ibrahim, a Kashmiri, has demanded the release of his brother Masood Azhar and four others. This was the first direct contact since the plane landed in Kandahar this morning. The Taliban has asked the United Nations to send a monitoring team to Afghanistan. The hijackers have refused to leave Afghanistan and threatened to blow up the plane if they are not allowed to land at Kabul.Muttawakil said the Taliban was in touch with Indian authorities, who have sought “utmost restraint”. By evening, reports indicated that separate Indian and United Nations teams were flying to Kandahar tonight. Foreign minister Jaswant Singh said “something significant” could happen tomorrow.A Press Trust of India report from New York said the United Nations is yet to receive a formal request to negotiate. Taliban representative Maulvi Hakim Mujahid told a television channel that an Indian official team was welcome to Kandahar if it came under the United Nations flag.Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asserted the government will not bend before terror. “The hijacking has brought home with full impact the threat of terrorism the country faces,” Vajpayee said. “We are doing everything possible to ensure the passengers and crew return home unharmed.”All passengers are reported safe. Maintaining there was no credible evidence of a Taliban hand, Jaswant Singh said the leader of the group was well-dressed and fluent in English. He hinted there were between five and seven hijackers. Earlier, Singh and home minister LK Advani held discussions with the Crisis Management Group.Singh appreciated the United Arab Emirates government’s handling of the situation in Dubai but expressed disappointment with Nepal over a “major security lapse.” SS Barnala, who attended the discussions as a special invitee, identified the hijackers as belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba.(The hostage crisis ended a week later on December 31. All the passengers and crew were set free after the Indian government agreed to release three imprisoned terrorists — Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar — and handed them over to the Taliban.)