Hijackers Free Captives, Get 10 Hours to Flee

Waving pistols in the air, five hijackers sped off in waiting cars Friday with two Islamic militants and a Muslim cleric released from Indian jails and were given 10 hours to find freedom--ending a tense eight-day standoff.

All 155 hostages on the Indian Airlines plane were freed unharmed, but the crisis--the longest hijacking drama in more than a decade--highlighted the explosive nature of the long-running dispute over the territory of Kashmir.

Under the agreement made by India, the hijackers and the Taliban militia who rule most of Afghanistan, the hijackers agreed to end the crisis and free the hostages in exchange for the three.

The getaway plan was unclear. The Taliban are anxious to be rid of the hijackers and the most likely destination is the poorly guarded Pakistani border, just a few hours’ drive from Kandahar. Both Pakistan and Iran, the only other nation they would have time to reach, have condemned their actions.

The hijackers and their three associates sped away at sunset in four-wheel drive vehicles from the Kandahar airport, where they had kept the hostages in an Indian Airlines plane parked on the tarmac. They also had one new hostage--a Taliban soldier who was to guarantee their safety.

Meanwhile, the freed hostages received a thunderous welcome in New Delhi, with thousands of relatives, airport employees, bystanders, police and journalists cheering as they landed and emerged one at a time into the terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Joyful relatives hoisted the survivors on their shoulders or tossed them into the air. The plane’s crew were carried through the terminal with garlands around their necks. One old woman hugged her son until she fainted.

“We were so terrorized nobody will be able to understand,” said Indian businessman R.K. Ghosh. “. . . most of the time they told us: ‘Keep your heads down. If you see us we will shoot you.’ ”

Although the hijackers dropped several demands during negotiations--including the release of 36 militants imprisoned in India--they did win the release of cleric Masood Azhar, a leader of Harkat ul-Ansar, a group on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations. The group is believed to have its training camps in Afghanistan.

The others released by India were Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, chief commander of the rebel group Ul-Umar Mujahideen, and Ahmad Omar Sayed Sheikh, who was held in a New Delhi prison. The three were flown to Afghanistan and the exchange happened just before sunset.

None of the passengers appeared harmed as the crisis ended, but one Indian passenger was killed shortly after the plane was seized Dec. 24 on a flight from Katmandu, Nepal to New Delhi.

The hijackers’ identities remained a mystery, though they carried out their acts in support of Kashmir militants, who want either independence from India or union with Muslim Pakistan.