Armed Taliban fighters walk past the hijacked Indian Airlines plane at Kandahar airport. PHOTO: REUTERS
The hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 received concerted ISI support as India strived to end the hostage crisis, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has reportedly stated in a book by former Reuters India bureau chief Myra Macdonald.
Doval, who was part of the negotiating team, claimed that had the hijackers not been supported by the ISI, the situation could have been resolved. It ultimately ended with the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar.
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"We were getting very good intelligence about all that was happening," Doval said. "If these people were not getting active ISI support in Kandahar, we could have got the hijacking vacated,” he remarked.
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"The ISI had removed all the pressure we were trying to put on the hijackers,” he alleged adding that safe passage had already been guaranteed. "Normally that is not the way hijackers talk. Normally the biggest fear is how to get out," Doval said.
IC-814 was hijacked soon after it departed from Kathmandu for New Delhi on December 24, 1999.
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