Hijack Drama Ends
31 December 1999, 1900 Hrs
All passengers and crew members abroad the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 have been released by the Taliban and are expected to return to New Delhi later tonight. Three arrested terrorists - Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar - have been handed over to the Taliban militia at Kandahar. The five hijackers have left the aircraft and have been taken to an undisclosed location by the Taliban. All this happened after Indian Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, arrived at Kandahar at about 3.40 p.m, bringing with him the three freed terrorists. The details of the deal struck between the Indian government and the hijackers are not known.

Indian Negotiators Reach Kandahar
28 December 1999, 0500 Hrs
Indian negotiators arrived in Kandahar at about 1842 hours IST in an Indian Airlines airbus. Hijackers holding 155 hostages aboard an Indian Airlines plane in southern Afghanistan put their demands directly to Indian officials in the early hours of Tuesday but without any breakthrough. "There has been no breakthrough yet in the talks," Taleban spokesman Abdul Haye Mutmaen told Reuters by telephone from Kandahar. The hijackers, totalling either five or six, insist India free Moslem cleric and Kashmiri activist Mohammed Azhar Masood, jailed by India in 1994, in exchange for their captives. The Indian negotiators flew in to Kandahar late on Monday and started talks with the hijackers while Indian engineers worked to repair technical problems on the Airbus-300, grounded and guarded by Taleban troops since it landed on Saturday. The negotiators include four Indian Home Ministry officials, two from the cabinet secretariat and Vivek Katju, a joint secretary in the external affairs ministry, who is the pivotal figure. Apart from the 7 negotiators, there are 2 doctors, 1 nurse and 13 airlines engineering personnel. India`s Star TV, quoting unnamed reports, said one hijacker had come out of the plane for the talks. Negotiations were started directly with the hijackers at about 11 pm Indian time.

US condemns hijacking of Indian airliner
28 December 1999, 0430 IST
WASHINGTON, Dec 28: The United States has denounced as "inhuman" and "terrorist" the hijacking of Indian Airlines Airbus 300 now at Kandahar, in Afghanistan, where Indian negotiators are grappling with the crisis, said reports early Tuesday. "We consider this terrorist act inhuman and we call for the immediate safe release of all hostages," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement. "The United States government condemns in the strongest terms the hijacking of (the plane) and the holding of 160 passengers as hostages."

Afghan Taliban to storm plane if hostages die
27 December 1999, 2000 Hours IST
KANDAHAR: Afghan Taliban troops will storm a commandeered Indian Airlines plane if its hijackers start killing or harming their 155 captives, Taliban Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil Muttawakil said today. "If we know that the hijackers are resorting to inhuman acts, like killing people, then we will storm the plane to save some lives," he told a news conference in Kandahar, Southern Afghanistan, where the plane was forced to fly on Saturday. He was speaking as a team of Indian negotiators and medical experts with medicine and spare parts for the hijacked Airbus-300 touched down in Kandahar shortly before dusk today, witnesses said. He said a UN official, Erick De Mul, had no radio contact with the hijackers since early afternoon after an deadline for their demands to be met passed without apparent incident. The deadline was later extended by another three hours. Muttawakil said the hijackers appeared fairly relaxed and seemed to be awaiting the arrival of the Indian negotiators.

Hijackers Issue Ultimatum, Set Deadline
27 December 1999, 1400 IST
The Indian government had received an ultimatum from the hijackers that if their demands were not met till 2.00 p.m. (IST) they wouldl start killing the passengers. Armed Taliban soldiers surrounded the hijacked plane minutes before end of deadline, witnesses said. Earlier, a news agency quoting a UN official said that the hijackers had set 1:40 p.m. (IST) as deadline. An Indian official had left Islamabad for Kandahar on Monday afternoon to negotiate with the hijackers. "The hijackers have threatened they will start killing the passengers if the Indian government does not take concrete steps (to meet their demands) by 12:40 (0810 GMT) Afghan time," Erik de Mul told reporters at the Kandahar airport after speaking to the hijackers and the pilot of the Airbus A-300. He further said that the pilot had appealed to the world "to do something" or the hijackers would start killing the 155 hostages after the deadline expires. According to the captain, the mental and physical condition of the passengers "was bad", he added.The decision to release the came just two hours before the extended deadline of 5 p.m. (IST) is to expire. The Indian government has, however, not made any official announcement to this effect. Meanwhile, a six-member Indian negotiating team is already on its way to Kandahar to parley with the hijackers. A technician is also said to be accompanying the team.

India sends envoy to the hijack site in Kandhar
27 December 1999, 1100 IST
ISLAMABAD, Dec 27: India sent an official from its high commission in Pakistan to assess the hostage crisis in Kandahar, UN sources here said today. Commercial counsellor A. R. Ghanshyam left Islamabad for Kandahar on a UN plane early today. Hijackers are still holding 160 people on an Indian Airlines plane at Kandahar airport on the fourth day of the hijacking ordeal. Ghanshyam is the first Indian official to travel to Kandahar since the hijacking drama began. "We decided late last night to send one of our officials to Kandahar," an Indian High Commission source in Islamabad told the Press Trust of India. Ghanshyam, however, has no negotiating authority and has been sent only to assess the situation and give a "firm report" about the well being of the passengers in the hijacked plane, the source told PTI.

Stalemate at Kandahar
27 December 1999, 0800 IST
New Delhi, Dec 27: The hijacked airliner remains at Kandahar airport, although it has been refuelled by the Taliban and can take off at any time. Some reports suggest that the aircraft has developed a technical snag, while others believe the aircraft cannot take off because it has nowhere to go. Meanwhile, the Indian government and the so-called "Crisis Management Team" comprising bureaucrats are coming in for increasing criticism from the India press and the average citizen. The government`s handling of the crisis is being viewed as slow and bumbling. Questions are being raised on how the aircraft was allowed to leave Amritsar airport where it had first touched down. Besides, not a single Indian official is anywhere near the vicinity of Kandahar and the government is even dithering about sending a relief aircraft to Kandahar.

Hijackers want release of Terrorist Ideologue
26 December 1999, 0615 IST
NEW DELHI, Dec 26: The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted Afghanistan`s ruling Taleban movement`s Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal as saying the hijackers had promised to the remaining 161 hostages in exchange for the release of the Islamic terrorist ideologue, Maulana Masood Azhar, who has been detained in India since 1994. Jamal said the hijackers had threatened to kill the hostages and themselves if talks were not held to discuss their demand. A civil aviation official at Kandahar said Taleben officials had started talking to the hijackers by radio. "They said they wanted the release of their friends and relatives or they will be ready for any sacrifice," the official said. "After hours of silence the hijackers have broken their silence. We have received a fax from ATC (air traffic control) Kandahar that they want the release of one person in jail, Maulana Masood Azhar. This has been apparently relayed...by the hijackers. We are seeing what we can do. We are looking at all the angles," Indian Civil Aviation Secretary Ravindra Gupta told reporters in New Delhi.

UN Team for Kandahar
25 December 1999
Both India and the ruling Taleban authorities in Afghanistan have asked the United Nations to help end the hijack ordeal, which began on Friday. Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a Taliban representative in New York, said on Saturday that an official of the U.N. office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, Erik de Mul, would arrive in Kandahar from Pakistan between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Afghan time "to follow the problem of the hijacked plane." "We want the United Nations to solve the problem. It is beyond our capacity because the Indian government has no diplomatic relations with Afghanistan," he said. A UN official, Erik de Mul, is expected to travel to Kandahar, which is also the Taleban`s political headquarters. But UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said the organisation was only willing to provide humanitarian assistance. He said the UN would not negotiate with the hijackers, who are demanding the release of an Islamic terrorist from an Indian jail. Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel said (Saturday): "Our position is that we have already been in contact with the United Nations envoy for Afghanistan based in Pakistan...We are also in contact with the Indian government. They should come to discuss the issue because we cannot fulfil these demands."

Nepal arrests four suspects, Suspends Security Staff
25 December 1999, 2225 IST
KATHMANDU: Nepalese authorities arrested four airport workers in connection with the hijacking of an Indian airliner. Nepal`s Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachheddar declined to provide further information but said the Nepalese government was determined to find anybody who had helped the hijackers. Earlier, the Nepalese Prime Minister spoke to his Indian counterpart to express his deep sorrow for what had happened. Nepal has also had suspended security staff and customs officials, who were on duty before the Indian Airlines plane took off from Kathmandu. Pakistan`s premier daily, the Jang, reports that the Indian Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, thanked his Pakistani counterpart, Abdul Sattar, and said "that the government of India was grateful for the cooperation extended by the government of Pakistan."

Jaswant Singh contacts Taliban, Hijackers Stay Put
25 December 1999, 1600 IST
NEW DELHI: India asked Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban on Saturday to prevent a hijacked Indian plane taking off from the Afghan city of Kandahar, amid indications that Muslim militants were behind the incident. Although India does not recognise the Taliban regime, Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said the lack of diplomatic relations should "not prove a hindrance" to resolving the hijacking, said sources. "We expect their cooperation in terminating the hijacking. We have asked them not to allow the plane to take off," Jaswant Singh added. According to a report in the Jang (Pakistan) report, the Indian airline hijackers refused to leave Kandahar. As of now, there are no indications to suggest that the hijackers are militants belonging to any Islamic group.

Airliner in Afghanistan`s Kandahar Airport
25 December 1999, 1115 IST
The hijacked Indian Airlines airbus is still in Kandahar airport (Afghanistan). The Indian authorities are reported to have contacted the Taliban to find out what is happening. According to the Taliban media, the Taliban have refused to allow passengers to get off the plane, while condemning the incident and calling the hijackers "terrorists". The Taliban have also refused political asylum to the hijackers. It is still not clear what the terrorists want and who they are. Rumours have it that the hijack could be an attempt to secure the release of two key Pakistani terrorists, Masood Azhar and Langrial, who are currently in Indian prisons. There have been several attempts to secure the release of these two men, who are responsible for scores of terrorist killings in Kashmir.

Honeymooner Killed by Hijackers
25 December 1999, 1100 IST
Rupin Katiyal, 25, returning from his honeymoon in Kathmandu aboard the ill-fated IC 814, has been killed by the hijackers. His 20 year old bride remains a hostage. Three other men have been injured - one of them seriously - and off loaded at Dubai. A total of 26 men, women and children were allowed to leave at Dubai.

Hijacked airliner lands in Afghanistan
25 December 1999, 0850 IST
KANDAHAR: The Indian Airlines plane, hijacked on Friday, has landed in Afghanistan`s city of Kandahar at 8:33 IST, said reports Saturday, after flying off from Dubai.

Anxious relatives at Indian Airlines Counter at New Delhi`s Indira Gandhi International Airport

One Passenger Killed, Women and Children Let Off
25 December 1999, 8030 Hours, IST
Hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight IC 814(Kathmandu-Delhi) have killed one passenger and are currently heading towards Kabul again. The aircraft was hijacked on its way to New Delhi yesterday (24 December 1999) at about 1730 Hours IST. It landed at Amritsar and was refused fuel. It then took off for Lahore where it was refuelled. After take off from Lahore, the aircraft sought permission to land at Kabul which was denied by the Taliban. The aircraft then proceeded to Dubai where women and children were let off. One body was handed over. The aircraft has taken off and is believed headed for Kabul once again. The hijackers are said to be carrying AK-47 rifles, grenades and revolvers. The plane, an Airbus A300, was carrying 174 passengers and 18 crew. Nothing is known about the identity of the hijackers.