Kindle Notes & Highlights
It has had more than its share of rewards, but it has also had its downside. While you do get acquainted with the rich and the famous, you also have to suffer the agony of late hours, puffy eyes, dehydration and lonely hotel rooms. Life with the airline is an arduous one.
“Aap kuch nahin karenge. Baat nahin karenge. Aap sirf maghrab me chaliye.
“Don’t look back,” the hijacker shouted at him. “Fly the aircraft west, west, west.”
Flight IC 814 was in close vicinity of the Prime Minister’s aircraft. Yet, the country’s most powerful person remained ignorant of the crisis. It was only after he would land at Palam Technical Area in Delhi that he would be informed of the hijacking. It is intriguing why the pilot of the Boeing chose to remain quiet and did not pass on the message of the hijacking to the PM’s entourage. He was certainly privy to the information.
Prime Minister Vajpayee was not informed of the hijack while he was airborne despite the availability of an Iridium phone in the aircraft. Surprisingly, the joint Intelligence Committee comprising the Intelligence chiefs and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra failed to inform the Prime Minister.
Delhi’s other choice was Halwara. This, again, was rejected by the hijacker.
Amritsar said it was ready to extend all facilities and wanted to know our situation. “Situation is serious on board. Request authorities to get landing permission for Lahore.” “Lahore runway is blocked and all their flights are diverting to some other station. Request your further intentions.”
Amritsar came on the air and said that Halwara was being kept ready for us.
“We need about an hour and a half to mount a commando operation,” CMG informed him. Singh promised to delay the refuelling.
By now, Ground Control knew how many hijackers there were in the aircraft. While relaying the hijackers’ messages to ATC, Captain Sharan had managed to send a coded message. “Hotel, India, Juliet (HIJ) five,” it had said. IC 814 had five hijackers on
There was no question of that. The hijacker asked us not to switch off the engines, and to keep the aircraft moving all the time. He kept asking Captain Sharan to move, then stop, move, then stop again and take a 180-degree turn, then turn again. “Keep on moving up and down,” he ordered.
We asked him what he was doing and were
told that he was trying to see if anyone was attempting to break into the aircraft. It was clear, however, that the hijackers were apprehensive about a commando raid—and were trained well enough to anticipate it.
“Either you crash it here or let them bring it down in Pakistan with a missile. In both situations, you are dead. It does not matter to us, our job will be done. And let me tell you, before coming on board we had taken a vow to destroy this aircraft. Now, let’s take off.”
Before leaving for Delhi, Abdul Hia passed on a note to Jaswant Singh that said the hijackers and released militants seemed headed for Quetta.
Had their confinement acted on their subconscious to recreate what psychologists describe as the Stockholm Syndrome?
The condition apparendy arises when hostages become dependent on their captors and, therefore, begin
to look upon them as ...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
traced to the Jogeshwari area of Mumbai, and four ISI operatives identified as Mohammed Rehan, Mohammed Iqbal (both Pakistanis), Yusuf Nepali (from Nepal) and Abdul Latif (an Indian) were nabbed from flat number 707 of Golden Soil colony in Jogeshwari West.
A zero FIR was registered at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport police station on December 25, 1999, under Sections 365/341/342/506/307/302/147/149 of IPC; 27, 54, 59 of the Arms Act; 5 of the Explosives Act; 4, 5 of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982. It was subsequently transferred to the Amritsar police as the aircraft landed at Raja Sansi airport in
Amritsar after it was hijacked in mid-air.
The forensic evidence on board the hijacked flight was lost because forensic experts weren’t called when the Airbus arrived in Delhi. It was only after it had undergone complete cleaning and refurbishing in Mumbai that the sleuths realised that the forensic evidence had been destroyed.
They were in possession of an Iridium phone from the beginning and that was used to communicate with their handlers—presumably in Pakistan.
The third militant, Ahmed Omar Sheikh, a graduate from the London School of Economics and a British national, was sighted in Karachi and is now in Pakistan.
Indian Airlines has the dubious distinction of having had the most hijackings of its aircraft in the world, yet the standard of security, as well as the checking and frisking of the passengers at entry points remains abysmal.
However, given Indian indifference and the short public memory, nothing has happened so far.
Crisis Management Group headed by the Cabinet Secretary,
The decision to deploy the commandos was given at 6.10 p.m. However, the NSG aircraft left IGI airport only at 8.04 p.m.
The three Service Chiefs felt completely left out and finally met the Prime Minister and lodged their protest at their non-inclusion and non-consultation by the CMG.
These could have helped in blocking the way of the aircraft. Incidentally, Lahore airport used this drill when IC 814 landed at the airport. Investigations have revealed that a confidential report to the government has pointed out this lapse and that, had the crash drill been followed, the aircraft could have been stopped at Amritsar.
However, even before it could reach the aircraft, the CMG told the AC to stop it, and the bowser was stopped. This caused a panic reaction and led to the stabbing of Rupin Katyal who died later.
