HIJACK-DOVAL 3LST

Doval said the the hysteria kicked up home on the
prolonged crisis lent urgency to seek the release of the
passengers and the crew.
"The public pressure, the relatives' pressure, the
processions, the TV, the media, the headlines and others put
the pressure on the negotiators to think that this time we
will finish it," the Kerala-cadre IPS officer said of every
stage of the negotiations with the hijackers.
Doval said to bring down demands for the release of
terrorists from 36 to three was a "stupendous task".
"110 hours of talks...we were talking our lungs out to
explain it to them and trying to see in what way, by what
tactics, by what method we could sort out the thing," he said.
The terrorists were also cashing in on the public
pressure that was building in India, he added.
"The biggest argument that they (terrorists) were
telling was that you have got no option but to consider our
demand. Look at your TV. We could not see it but they could
see it because the (Pakistan) ISI chaps had been telling them
what was happening on the streets and outside PM's house," he
said. PTI