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Hijackers refuse to free Rachana

The hijackers of Flight 814 have refused to release Rachana Katyal, the 22-year-old widow of the slain passenger Rupin.

"We haven't come here to release one or two people," one of the hijackers said in Urdu from the cockpit of the stranded plane in Kandahar. "We want to resolve the issue with the Indian government thoroughly."

Rupin, who had been stabbed to death on the first day, was cremated in Gurgaon Sunday evening. Married on December 3, he and his wife were returning from their honeymoon when Fate played her hand.

Rupin's inconsolably weeping parents had requested the Indian government to do all that's possible to get Rachana released.

Meanwhile, the father of Maulana Azhar, the Harkat-ul-Ansar militant whom the hijackers want released, has reportedly decried their action.

The imprisoned Azhar, for his part, is reported to have said from a jail that he did not want freedom at the cost of innocent lives.

"I can use some other means to leave the jail and personally I would prefer to go honorably from here," Azhar was quoted as saying by an unnamed jail official.

NIGHTMARE ON FLIGHT 814
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