March 11, 1981, Forty Years Ago: Prisoners & Hostages

The three Pakistani gunmen holding over 100 passengers of a PIA plane hostage have scaled down their demands to seek the release of only 45 political prisoners. Earlier, they had listed the names of 92 political prisoners who they wanted released. To that the Pakistani government had said that it would not be impossible to release those who had criminal charges against them, and a few others whom it could not locate. Meanwhile, in what may be seen as a concession to the hijackers, Pakistan’s Defence Secretary Rahim Khan said that Pakistan was willing to plan a simultaneous release of prisoners and hostages. It has agreed to release 15 of the original 92 prisoners listed by the hijackers.

Threat To RSS

The Gujarat Home Minister Pramod Raval threatened to ban the RSS as the anti-reservation agitation continued to smoulder in different parts of the state. The government will not hesitate to ban the outfit, he said in reply to a question by a Congress (I) MLA in the state legislative assembly. After a period of comparative lull, violence has picked up in several parts of the state.

Cuttack Violence

An undetermined number of people were injured in the Mangalbagh area of Cuttack when shopkeepers aided by a number of people of the area stoned a medical college hostel. The shopkeepers were retaliating against an attack by some medical college students who looted some of the shops. The students had earlier attacked newspaper offices, abused and assaulted journalists and other staff.

Polish Workers
An estimated 300,000 workers downed their tools for an hour in the first major strike in Poland since last month when the government called for a truce with the unions. Solidarity leaders said workers from 800 enterprises participated in the strike.