February 8, 2000

Police settle in for long haul over hijacked Afghan plane
Tuesday, February 8 8:56 AM SGT
STANSTED, England, Feb 8 (AFP) - British police settled in for a long haul Tuesday, as negotiations continued to free the remaining 150 passengers on board a hijacked Afghan plane parked at an airport north of London.

Taliban complains of world discrimination in hijacking
.c Kyodo News Service
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 8 (Kyodo) - Afghanistan's Taliban leader complained Tuesday the Taliban is subject to a discriminatory world attitude on the hijacking of an Ariana Airlines aircraft, adding it is ''the duty'' of the British government to end the drama.

Analysis: Flight to freedom?
Relatives wait for news in Kabul
BBC
As the hostages on board the Ariana Airlines plane wait for a resolution to the hijacking, their relatives in Afghanistan have been trying to get news of the latest from Stansted.

Final declaration of the majority members of the Harrakat Central Committee
Afghanistan's illustrious and proud history has no doubt recorded the heroic acts and bravery of Harrakat e Islami and its holy fighters in the cause of Islam and our nation against foreign aggression and corrupt internal forces and more recently colonialist

10 Released Afghan Hostages Back Home
Monday, February 07, 2000 10:43 AM EST
ISLAMABAD (Feb. 7) XINHUA - Ten passengers of the hijacked Afghan Ariana airliner, who were released in Uzbekistan, returned to Afghanistan on Monday, according to a news dispatch from the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

uk declines help from afghan embassy to resolve hijack
london, feb. 7, irna - british authorities have declined help from the afghan embassy in london to help resolve the hijack crisis at stansted airport, according to the charge d'affaires, ahmed vali masood. "we have told the foreign office that we are fully ready

How to negotiate with hijackers
BBC
Negotiators have begun the delicate task of liaising with the hijackers of an Afghan plane at Stansted airport.

Afghan Plane Hijack Talks Held
By Robert Barr
Associated Press Writer
Monday, Feb. 7, 2000; 10:12 p.m. EST
STANSTED, England –– Authorities held "fairly calm and businesslike" negotiations over long hours Monday with apparent Afghan dissidents holding a planeload of at least 150 people hostage at an airport outside London.

Wrecked airport is security free
The Sunday Times
FROM ZAHID HUSSAIN IN KARACHI AND ARTHUR LEATHLEY
KABUL airport is virtually without security, having been wrecked by years of fighting among rivals in the Afghan conflict.

Taleban sends India $931,000 hostage bill
S. N. M. ABDI
South China Morning Post
Afghanistan's Taleban Government has billed the Indian Government for US$120,000 (HK$931,000) for services rendered during the eight-day Indian Airlines hijack in December.

Lion of Herat too valuable to walk free
South China Morning Post
Afghanistan's hardline Taleban rulers are unlikely to yield easily, if at all, to demands by the men who hijacked an Ariana Boeing 727 to London, where it landed yesterday.

Russian foreign ministry examining hijacking incident
Monday, February 07, 2000 1:17 AM EST
MOSCOW, February 7 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian Foreign Minasrty is closely examining all circumstances of the hijacking of Afghan air company's passengerairliner, a ministry official told Itar-Tass on Monday.