Date: March 02, 1981

Aircraft Type: Boeing 720-030B

Registration: AP-AZP

Crew: 9 on board  (Complete list of crew is at the bottom of this page)

Passengers: 132 on board

Number of hijackers: 3

Total on board: 144

Victims: 1 passenger

Flight: Karachi - Peshawar

Flight number: PK-326

Description: On March 2, 1981, Pakistan International's flight PK-326 began as a routine domestic hop from Karachi to Peshawar. In midair three heavily armed men seized the plane, diverted it to Kabul, Afghanistan, and demanded the release of 92 "political prisoners" from the Pakistani jails. On March 7, twenty nine hostages including women, children and sick men were released in Kabul. The Boeing 720B sat in Kabul for a week, and when Pakistan's President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq refused to give in, the hijackers shot a Pakistani diplomat Tariq Rahim in full view of the other passengers and dumped his body onto the tarmac.

Next, on March 9, the plane flew to Damascus, Syria, and by the time ordeal ended there on March 14, more than 100 hostages had endured 13 days of tension and squalor. At that time it was the longest hijacking episode in the history.

The gunmen repeatedly threatened to blow up the plane, but were talked into long extensions while negotiations continued by radio with Pakistani and Syrian officials in the Damascus control tower. Finally the hijackers said they would settle for just 55 prisoners - but they coupled the concession with a grim warning: they would soon kill the three Americans on board. "Be ready to pick up the bodies," they told the tower. Just twenty minutes before the deadline President Zia gave in, ordering that the prisoners be flown to sanctuary in Libya. "It's over," said Pakistani negotiator Sarfraz Khan.

Boeing 720-030B  (Abbas Ali Collection)

A ruthless hijacker gestures from hijacked PIA Boeing 720B (AP-AZP) at Damascus Airport in March of 1981

But it wasn't over. First, Pakistani authorities said they could not trace one of the 55 prisoners. And some of the others didn't want to leave Pakistan. Then, when a PIA Boeing 707 carrying the released prisoners was in the air approaching Tripoli, Libya suddenly announced that it had changed it's mind about granting asylum to the hijackers and their friends. The prisoners' plane had nowhere to go, and the hostages' lives were again in jeopardy. Finally Syria announced that it would take in the prisoners and the hijackers, and the gunmen gave up. The long flight was over.

A fresh PIA flight crew brought AP-AZP back to Pakistan from Damascus. The aircraft was withdrawn from use and retired in April of 1981. Later, it was put on display at Karachi's Clifton Funland park where it became source of joy and happiness for young children. Few years later, it was removed from the park and sold to scrap metal dealers.

Crew members of hijacked PIA Boeing 720-030B (registration AP-AZP):

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