Hijackers’ demand identical to that of Al-Faran

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 29: The hijackers of the Indian Airlines airbus to Kandahar, who are being identified as hardcore members of the Pakis...

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 29: The hijackers of the Indian Airlines airbus to Kandahar, who are being identified as hardcore members of the Pakistani mercernary group, Harkat-ul Ansar (HuA), have demanded release of exactly the same number of 36 militants as Al-Faran had done after abducting five foreign tourists.

Al Faran, which was believed by Western and Indian security agencies to be a front for HuA, now operating as Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, after kidnapping the five foreign tourists from Pahalgam in South Kashmir in 1995 had intially demanded release of 36 Kashmiri militants in exchange for the hostages.

The demand had included the release of 15 hardcore HuA mercenaries including Maulvi Mohd Masood Azhar and Nasrullah Langaryal. Others whose release and safe passage to Pakistan was demanded included prominent jailed Kashmiri militants including Al Umar chief, Mushtaq Ahmad Jargar alias Latrum.

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However, in protracted negotiations, Al Faran first reduced the number of militants sought to be released to 26 from 36 and as negotiations lasting months continued they progressively cut down their demand to releasing 15, then eight and finally in December 1995 when last contact was made to just release of Maulavi Azhar.

Incidently, according to a recent BBC indepth film, made to unfold the fate of four foreign tourists, two Britons, a German and an American, one Ibrahim was identified as a key militant behind the abduction of these tourists.

The security agencies are now probing whether this Ibrahim is the same as the one listed as one of the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar.

There have been demands raised by next of the kin of those four foreign hostages to their respective governments to find out from the hijackers about the fate of the abducted tourists.

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The seized documents of HuA in Jammu and Kashmir reveal extensive linkages of the group with wanted Saudi terrorist Osama Bin Laden and some influential sections within the Taliban.

HuA, which was put on terrorist list by the US State Department in 1997 shared the Zilli Khawar terrorist training camp with Bin Laden’s cadres in Khost province on Pak-Afghan border, which was a target of US cruise missile attacks last year.

Besides this, the other militant groups operating in Kashmir have been raising ransom demands for release of hostages and unspecified sum was reportedly paid for release of an Indian Oil executive recently.