In December 1999, hijackers took Indian Airlines flight IC-814 to Kandahar in Afghanistan. They demanded the release of 36 prisoners, the coffin of a militant and 200 million dollars. A team of Indian officials led by Ajit Doval of the Intelligence Bureau negotiated in Kandahar.
According to the statement of the External Affairs Minister to Parliament, the Crisis Management Group in Delhi received its instructions from the Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee on Security. The government rejected the first demands. In the end it released three prisoners, among them Masood Azhar, in exchange for about 160 hostages.