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India to swap three freedom fighters for hijack hostages

NEW DELHI: India said on Friday that it had reached an agreement with the hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane to free three Kashmiri freedom fighters from detention in exchange for the release of all hostages on board the plane.

"As a result of negotiations with the Taleban government and the hijackers, there has been an agreement for release of all the hostages in exchange for three freedom fighters," National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra told reporters.

Mishra said India was hoping that all the hostages, thought to number 154 or 155, would be returned to New Delhi from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan by 9:00 p.m. (1530 GMT) on Friday.

He said Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh had left for Kandahar airport, where the hijacked jet has been parked since Christmas Day, and the freedom fighters were on board his plane. "The aircraft has just now taken off from Palam airport (in New Delhi) with the External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and the freedom fighters in the aircraft. We hope that by about 9 p.m. tonight all hostages should be here," Mishra said.

Asked about the fate of the hijackers, he said: "(Afghanistan's ruling) Taleban will deal with them in whatever manner it considers".

Mishra said the three freedom fighters offered for release were Maulana Masood Azhar - a Pakistani Moslem cleric who was the first of 36 whose release the hijackers demanded - Ahmed Omar Sayed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, leader of the Al-Umar separatist group.-Reuters