Little is known about the armed hijackers on board the Ariana airlines aircraft sitting on a runway at Stansted Airport. At first it was thought that the hijackers, between six and 12 in number, were demanding the release from prison of the Afghan rebel leader, Ismail Khan. But yesterday, with no formal political demands being made by the hijackers, reports from Kabul that they might be seeking asylum in Britain were gaining ground.
In the absence of firm demands, British police negotiators have adopted a "calm and businesslike" approach to the task of securing the release of the passengers and crew on board. It is likely to be a long process.
The calm and slow approach of the negotiating team yielded swift results on Monday with the release of five hostages, four of them from the same family, at about 11.30 a.m. and the release of another three at 2.40 p.m. Another man, who had complained of feeling unwell, was also allowed to leave the aircraft yesterday afternoon nearly 36 hours after the Boeing 727 landed at Stansted.
Prof Paul Rodgers, a political violence expert at the Department of Peace Studies in Bradford University, said he thought reports that the hijackers were demanding the release of Ismail Khan could be a red herring.
It was possible, he said, that the hijackers were seeking asylum in Britain. "There have been firm denials from the Taliban and on the opposition side in Kabul on Khan, but anything beyond that is difficult to say," he said.
"If it is asylum then the negotiators will be negotiating directly with the hijackers, and the British have the decision-making capability. On balance, the longer this goes on the more likely it is that there will be a peaceful conclusion."
The police negotiators include members of the Essex police team that successfully negotiated an end to the hijacking of a Sudanese Airbus at the airport in 1996. At that time Det Chief Insp Win Bernard conducted his negotiations with the captain of the aircraft over a radio link from the control tower, and Dr Rodgers said that system was probably being used in the current hijack.
"Negotiations are carried out mostly through the internal radio system on the plane," he said. "There may be cellphones. But there could also be attempts to plant remote sensors and laser systems that are able to pick up sounds on an aircraft which produce vibrations through a pane of glass when someone speaks."