Govt pressurised negotiators to end hijacking by Dec 31: Doval

New Delhi: Pressure from the government and hysteria back home by relatives of passengers prevented negotiators to force the hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane to scale down their demand to release just one terrorist, says A K Doval, India's Chief negotiator.
Ten years after the traumatic passengers were released after a costly exchange of three dreaded terrorists on New Year eve, Doval, a former IB chief, says demands may have been reduced to release of just one terrorist if negotiators had got some more time.
Pressure was building from the government to quickly secure the release of passengers and finish the task before the clock struck midnight heralding the new millennium, he said.
"That was something that was adding pressure on us ki ab app key paas 12 ghante bache hain (you have 12 hours left)... the pressure was from the people. The pressure from the people was on the government, the pressure from the government would be transmitted to the negotiators and they were telling the people are getting restless," 64-year-old Doval told a news agency here.
The intelligence agencies negotiated with the terrorists for seven days under tremendous domestic pressure to secure the release of passengers.
The hijack crisis ended after three dreaded terrorists --Maulana Masood Azhar, who later founded Jaish-e-Mohammed, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh--were released in exchange for the lives of 149 passengers and a 15-member crew of the plane.
01/01/10 Zee News

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Categories: Air India Domestic Jan 2010, Airports Jan 2010, Foreign Jan 2010, NACIL Jan 2010, Safety Jan 2010