The eight-day long hijacking drama ended on December 31 with all the 155 hostages aboard the Indian Airlines aircraft having returned in New Delhi on the night of December 31

It was a touching home-coming for the passengers who returned here to a warm welcome by relatives, friends and well-wishers.

In a highly surcharged atmosphere, some cried and others tried to smile as they came out of the special aircraft sent to bring them back from Kandahar where they were held hostage since Friday.

The passengers were put in cars and buses at the Indira Gandhi International Airport where ambulances were on standby to meet any exigencies.

It was a heart-rending scene of mixed emotions when some passengers touched the tarmac and embraced their kith and kin for whom it was an agonizing wait over the past week.

"I am happy to be back in the country after eight days," a visibly tired but passenger said.

The longest-ever hijacking involving an Indian airliner took a sudden twist with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh along with three militants, flying to Kandahar after the government announced that a deal had been reached for the release of the hostages.

The hostages, including the crew of the IA flight 814 hijacked while on its way from Kathmandu to New Delhi on December 24, flew back to the capital in two planes along with Jaswant Singh to join their families just before the dawn of the new millennium.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who met some opposition leaders, defended the decision to free the militants, saying that was the only option available. Opposition leaders expressed reservations over the deal.

Before leaving for home, Singh told reporters in Kandahar that the Taliban had assured that the hijackers would not be given political asylum and had been given 10 hours to leave Afghanistan.

India thanked the Taliban and the authorities in Afghanistan for their "constructive" cooperation in bringing an end to the week-long hijacking crisis and asserted that the fight against terrorism would continue unrelentingly.

Singh said at the Delhi airport soon after his arrival along with hostages from Kandahar: "We have conveyed our gratitude to the Taliban and authorities in Afghanistan for the cooperation which was constructive all along the trying period."