The hijackers of an Indian aircraft grounded in southern Afghanistan are demanding a huge ransom as well as the release from India of imprisoned Kashmiri separatists, the Indian authorities said last night.
The Indian government said the hijackers, who are holding nearly 160 hostages on an Indian Airlines jet, have asked for $200 million as well as the release of 35 Kashmiri militants held in Indian jails. Principal among those they want out of prison is a Muslim cleric, Maulana Masood Azhar.
The Indian government has sent negotiators to the scene following mounting criticism in India that it did not act quickly or resolutely enough. In the immediate aftermath of the hijack which began on Friday, the Indian authorities said they would not negotiate with terrorists.
The hijackers have refused a request from the negotiators to allow children and their mothers off the aircraft, which is stranded on the tarmac at Kandahar airport. As the standoff yesterday entered its fifth day, the pilot said conditions on board had become "terrible".
"We have appealed to the hijackers at least to let the children along with their mothers come out of the aircraft", the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, told a news conference in New Delhi. "They have not acceded to our demand."
Those aboard, said the pilot yesterday, are "stressed and exhausted". The aircraft left Nepal for India last Friday. En route, it stopped in northern India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates where the hijackers released 27 passengers. It arrived in Afghanistan with its mostly Indian passengers on Saturday.
The Muslim militant hijackers have killed one Indian passenger and injured another. On Sunday they threatened to start killing passengers if the Indian authorities did not take steps to meet their demands. The Indian authorities believe the hijackers are members of the Kashmiri separatist group, Harkat-ul Mujahideen.
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban have warned the hijackers they will storm the plane if any more hostages are harmed. Several truckloads of Taliban militiamen have surrounded the aircraft.
Indian officials yesterday began their third round of negotiations with the hijackers. Also involved in the talks are United Nations officials and European diplomats who have gone to Kandahar to represent their nationals on the plane.
There are growing fears about the physical and mental conditions of the hostages. An auxiliary power unit, keeping cabin temperature stable, failed yesterday and the pilot of the Airbus said the air inside was "foul". The doors were opened for a while to let in fresh air and the lavatories were emptied from outside.
The negotiators are said to have been given "some access" to the passengers. Food and water is being supplied to those aboard.
Meanwhile, members of the group being blamed by Indian authorities for the hijack were yesterday continuing their siege of an Indian security force's headquarters in Kashmir. Five policemen died when the headquarters of the Special Operations Group in the Kashmiri capital, Srinagar, was attacked by separatist guerrillas on Monday.
Denis Staunton reports from Berlin:
An attempt to hijack a Lufthansa flight from Prague to Dusseldorf ended peacefully yesterday when the would-be hijacker gave himself up to German authorities. The 41-year-old man from Lebanon took control of the aircraft by telling flight crew that there was a bomb on board.