Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

348 • KASHMIRI SEPARATISMPeak overlooking Indian artillery positions along the line of controland also overlooking a strategic northern highway linking Indianforward positions with logistical support. Following a one-day breakon 5 June 1999, the air raids resumed until the 150 remaining rebelswere driven off of Tololing Peak. Following this defeat the militantsresumed the tactic of hitting remote Hindu villages and slaying largenumbers of Hindu civilians.On 24 December 1999 the HUM carried out the hijacking ofIndian Airlines Flight 814 out of Kathmandu, Nepal, originallyscheduled to fly to New Delhi. Five men believed to be of Pakistaniorigin hijacked the A300 Airbus first to Amritsar, India, where it wasrefueled, then to Lahore, Pakistan, where it was again refueled, andthen to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. One Indian was killedby the hijackers during their takeover of the plane for disobeyingtheir orders not to look at them. In Dubai, 25 of the 174 passengerswere released along with the body of the slain passenger. After beingrefueled, the plane then flew to Qandahar, Afghanistan, where theremaining 163 passengers and crew were held hostage against the releaseof HUM leader Maulana Masood Azhar, a Pakistani cleric imprisonedin India since 1994, along with several other militants, thebody of a slain militant, and payment of a ransom of $200 million. By31 December 1999 India agreed to the release of Azhar and two otherseparatist leaders, who were flown to Qandahar, where they and thefive hijackers departed after releasing the surviving hostages.This incident raised many questions about the role of Pakistan,whose government disclaimed any involvement in the incident, andalso the role of the Taliban who, while also publicly condemningthe hijacking, made no apparent move to arrest the hijackers after theincident. Also, several passengers indicated that automatic weaponsonly appeared after their arrival in Qandahar, which suggested theTaliban supplied these weapons to the hijackers. At that time, manymembers of the U.S. Congress called for Pakistan to be added to theofficial list of state sponsors of terrorism due its support for theHUM, a group officially designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organizationby the U.S. State Department. Following the World TradeCenter and Pentagon attacks of September 11, 2001, Pakistandistanced itself from these Kashmiri groups, although the conflictcontinues in Kashmir with suspected covert support from Pakistan ormembers of its Inter-Services Intelligence agency.