Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on December 29 called on the Indian government not to cause any further delay in ending the prolonged hijacking drama of an Indian airliner to avoid any more human loss.

"We have told the Indian government not to cause further delay and settle it as early as possible," Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Mulla Abdul Hayee Motmain, spokesman for the Taliban-led government as saying.

"We want ourselves to be relieved of this responsibility," he said.

The airbus-300 plane with more than 150 passengers and crew on board has been stranded at the Kandahar airport of Afghanistan for five days.

Motmain said the Taliban had also asked New Delhi to take immediate steps "to avoid any loss of life in view of the bad and difficult condition of the passengers" of the hijacked plane.

The spokesman confirmed that the hijackers had dropped their demands for 200 million US dollars and for the body of a slain Kashmiri militant Sajjad Afghani "on Taliban's request".

However, the hijackers still demanded for the release of 36 Kashmiri militants from Indian jails.