DATE=12/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDIA HIJACK MON. (L)
NUMBER=2-257536
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: India sent a team of negotiators and medical
personnel to Afghanistan to talk with hijackers who
seized an Indian Airways plane Friday. Correspondent
Jim Teeple reports from our New Delhi bureau, the
hijackers have suspended their threats to begin
killing hostages, but the situation in the Afghan city
of Kandahar remains volatile.
Text: Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh will not
say what the Indian negotiators have to offer the
hijackers, saying only their first task is to clarify
the hijackers' demands.
// SINGH ACT //
These demands have come to us on a second-hand
basis. We want to establish what the demands
actually are. We are receiving these demands
from second or third hands and to establish
exactly what they want, that is what the team
will do.
// END ACT //
The hijackers who are identified as Islamic militants
are demanding the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, a
Pakistani cleric, and several militant separatists
from Kashmir. All are jailed in India on terrorism
charges.
Foreign Minister Singh says he has received support to
end the crisis from Taleban authorities in
Afghanistan, as well as from the United Nations.
India says it will not accept the hijackers demands.
Prime Minister Vajpayee has pledged India will never
bow to terrorism. India's Foreign Minister says the
decision to send negotiators is not a retreat from
that position.
// SINGH ACT //
The primary concerns of the government are the
earliest termination of the hijacking and the
safety welfare and comfort of the passengers and
crew. And above all the interests of the
nation.
// END ACT //
India's government is being criticized by the
hostages'family members for not doing enough to end
the crisis.
// OPT // India's Foreign Minister says the
negotiators' plane would have left Sunday, but it took
time to get clearances from Afghanistan and Pakistan -
two nations India considers to be hostile towards its
interests. // END OPT //
The government is also being criticized for allowing
the hijacked plane to leave the northern Indian city
of Amritsar where it landed shortly after the
hijackers took control. (SIGNED)
NEB/JLT/RAE
27-Dec-1999 08:38 AM EDT (27-Dec-1999 1338 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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