DATE=12/26/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=HIJACK / INDIA REACT S & L CQ
NUMBER=2-257507
BYLINE=ANJANA PASRICHA
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: India's Foreign Minister says New Delhi is
examining the demands of the hijackers holding an
Indian passenger plane with 161 people on board in
Afghanistan. Anjana Pasricha has a report from New
Delhi.
Text: Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh says (at a news
conference Sunday) the safety of the hostages aboard
an Indian passenger plane is New Delhi's top
priority. He says the government is in constant touch
with Taleban officials in Afghanistan and the United
Nations representative now in Kandahar to resolve the
crisis.
/// INSERT SINGH ACT ///
We will be taking all steps that we believe are
both prudent and productive towards these
objectives.
/// END SINGH ACT ///
But Mr. Singh sidestepped questions whether India
would consider granting the Hijackers' demand to
release imprisoned religious leader Masood Azhar and
four Kashmiri fighters.
Before the hijackers made their demand, Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee issued a tough statement saying
India will not bow before such a show of terror.
/// REST OPT FOR LONG ///
Meanwhile emotional relatives of the hostages are
pressing the Indian government to give into the
hijackers. About one dozen of them showed up at the
foreign minister's news conference, and demanded that
the jailed militants should be released in exchange
for the hostages. They pointed out that India had set
free seven Kashmiri miltiants in exhange for a
minister's daughther kidnapped 10 years ago.
/// SOUND OF SHOUTING AND RELATIVE ACT ///
Leave those chaps and then let's see what
happens after that.
/// END RELATIVE ACT ///
The 27 passengers who were freed by the hijackers
during a stop in Dubai returned to Delhi late
Saturday. They said the hijackers were carrying
pistols, knives and grenades. The passengers say they
were blindfolded, forced to keep their heads down, and
not allowed to speak to each other. Those who dared to
look up were treated brutally. But the passengers also
say the hijackers treated the children and women in a
humane fashion, telling the children not to be
frightened and giving them whatever they asked for.
(signed)
NEB/AP/JO
26-Dec-1999 07:59 AM EDT (26-Dec-1999 1259 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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