Terrorists Release Hostage in Lebanon

WASHINGTON--The State Department, confirming the release yesterday of an Indian hostage to the Syrian government, said "we are anxious to talk to him and learn if he has any information to share with us" about the eight other U.S. citizens held in Lebanon.

Spokesman Phyllis Oakley said Mithileshwar Singh, who is a permanent resident of the United States, was in Syrian hands in Beirut and would be taken to Damascus early this morning.

"We join with Mr. Singh's relatives in rejoicing in his release and call for the urgent, unconditional release of all hostages in Lebanon," Oakley said.

The spokesman said she did not know how he was freed.

Oakley said Syria notified the U.S. embassy in Beirut and Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who is at the United Nations in New York, of Singh's release.

"He'll be transported tomorrow to Damascus, and at that point we will consult with him whether he wants to take advantage of the facilities at Wiesbaden," she said yesterday.

The United States maintains a hospital at the military base in West Germany.

The release had been expected at 2 p.m. EDT and then at 3 p.m. After two more hours of anxious waiting, Oakley made the announcement in the State Department newsroom at 5 p.m.

"We can confirm," she said, "that the Syrian government has told us they have custody of a hostage, an Indian citizen and legal permanent resident of the United States."

She then identified the freed hostage as Singh, a visiting professor at Beirut University College. "We understood the Syrians intend to transport Mr. Singh to Damascus on Tuesday morning," Oakley said yesterday.

Asked if there were indications other hostages would be released, the spokesman said, "No. This is all we have."

Singh's wife, Lalmoney, is in Beirut and Singh, 60, will be turned over to the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Edward Djerejian, Oakley said.

Although Singh is an Indian citizen, he was considered one of the nine Americans held hostage in Lebanon, she said, adding that he "was associated" with the Americans who taught at the college.

The release came after kidnappers holding Singh and three American teachers said they would free one of their captives at the west Beirut headquarters of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees.

The announcement that a hostage would be freed from Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine came in a 36-word handwritten statement in Arabic delivered to a western news agency in Beirut.

President Reagan created a stir in New York a week ago when he suggested that something was in the works regarding the nine Americans held hostage by various pro-Iranian elements in Lebanon.

He said at the time that he could not say anything further because "you don't talk while a no-hitter is being pitched."

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said later that the president had no special information and was merely saying he didn't want to cast bad luck on the situation.

At the outset of his daily news briefing yesterday, Fitzwater disclosed that the administration had received information from a third-party government in the region that a hostage release was imminent. He would not identify the government involved, but Syria's foreign minister spoke of an imminent release.

"What we have now is very skimpy," Fitzwater said.