Advertisement

Pakistan executes three men convicted of 1998 hijacking

By Andrew V. Pestano
The executed men were Baloch insurgents from the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

HYDERABAD, Pakistan, May 28 (UPI) -- Pakistan hanged three Baloch men to death on Thursday, who were convicted of hijacking a passenger plane carrying 30 people in 1998.

Shabbir Rind, Shahsawar Baloch and Sabir Rind were members of the left-wing Baloch Students Organization, which demanded for more resources for their region. They were executed at jails in Karachi and Hyderabad, Pakistan.

Advertisement

The men hijacked Pakistani International Airways flight 554 in May 1998, ordering the pilot to fly to Delhi, India.

The pilot of the plane told the men there was not enough fuel to fly to Delhi, but agreed to fly to Gujrat, India. The pilot landed in Hyderabad instead, where Pakistani commandos stormed the plane and arrested the three hijackers.

No passengers or crew members were harmed.

The Balochistan province is one of the most under-developed regions of Pakistan and is the location of an ongoing conflict between separatists and government security forces.

The men were sentenced to death in October 1998, but remained on death row until the moratorium on executions was removed after the Peshawar school massacre in December, where 140 people, mostly children, were killed in a Taliban attack.

Advertisement

The executed men were part of a larger execution where four other men were hung to death; separately and not criminally linked.

Latest Headlines