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Indian Airlines Flight 814
Taliban militia in front of the hijacked plane.
Hijacking
Date24 December 1999 – 31 December 1999
SiteHijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal and Delhi, India; landed at Amritsar, India; Lahore, Pakistan; Dubai. United Arab Emirates and Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Aircraft
Aircraft typeAirbus A300B2-101
OperatorIndian Airlines
RegistrationVT-EDW
Flight originTribhuvan International Airport
Kathmandu, Nepal
DestinationIndira Gandhi International Airport
Delhi, India
Passengers176
Crew15
Fatalities1 (Ripan Katyal)
Injuries17
Survivors190

Indian Airlines Flight 814 commonly known as IC 814 was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India on Friday, 24 December 1999, when it was hijacked. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was accused of the hijacking with the support and active assistance from ISI.[1][2][3]

The aircraft was hijacked by gunmen shortly after it entered Indian airspace at about 17:30 IST. Hijackers ordered the aircraft to be flown to several locations. After touching down in Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, the hijackers finally forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which at the time was controlled by the Taliban. The hijackers released 27 of 176 passengers in Dubai but fatally stabbed one and wounded several others.

At that time, most of Afghanistan, including Kandahar where the plane landed, was under Taliban control. Initially it was thought that Taliban is on Indian side but later it became apparent that they are working in collaboration with ISI. Taliban fighters surrounded the aircraft to prevent any Indian military intervention, which was found by current RAW chief Ajit Doval when he landed there and they also found two ISI men were on the tarmac and others soon joined them in which one was a lieutenant colonel and the other a major.[4] Doval said that if the Taliban hijackers did not have ISI support, India could have resolved the crisis.

The motive for the hijacking appears to have been to secure the release of Islamist figures held in prison in India. The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after India agreed to release three militants – Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Masood Azhar. These militants have since been implicated in other terrorist actions, such as the kidnap and murder of Daniel Pearl and Mumbai terror attacks.[5] The hijacking has been seen as one of the millennium attack plots by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists.[6][7][8]

Hijacking

Anil Sharma, the chief flight attendant on IC-814, later recalled that a masked, bespectacled man threatened to blow up the plane with a bomb and ordered Captain Devi Sharan to "fly west".[9] Four other men wearing red masks then stood up and took positions throughout the aircraft. The hijackers wanted Captain Sharan to divert the aircraft over Lucknow and head towards Lahore. However, there was insufficient fuel. Captain Sharan told the hijackers that they had to land in Amritsar, India.[9]

Landing in Amritsar, India

At Amritsar, Captain Sharan requested refuelling for the aircraft. The aircraft stood there for more than 45 minutes but no credible efforts were made to rescue the passengers and instead confusion was spread.[10] However, the Crisis Management Group in Delhi directed Amritsar Airport authorities to ensure that the plane was immobilised. The armed personnel of the Punjab police were already in position to try and do this. They did not receive approval from New Delhi. Eventually, a fuel tanker was dispatched and instructed to block the approach of the aircraft. As the tanker sped towards the aircraft, air traffic control radioed the pilot to slow down, and the tanker immediately came to a stop. This sudden stop aroused the hijackers' suspicion and they forced the aircraft to take off immediately, without clearance from air traffic control. The aircraft missed the tanker by only a few feet.[11]

Later, it was revealed that there was efforts by ex-RAW chief AS Daulat and others to cover up the real motives of why the plane was not immobilised and why there were no commando-operation to neutralise the threat. The RAW officer named Shashi Bhushan Singh Tomar, husband of Sonia Tomar, was boarded on the plane, who was brother-in-law of N K Singh, secretary to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and he ensured that plane be let off and no commando operation be done to ensure his brother-in-law’s safety.[12] According to RAW officer, R K Yadav, author of Mission R&AW, days before the hijacking, UV Singh, another RAW operative in Kathmandu informed Tomar that Pakistani terrorists were planning to hijack an Indian plane and he order Singh to check the veracity of his report where Singh vouched for its reliability but Tomar rebuked him and told him not to spread rumours. Later, Tomar was found on the same plane which was hijacked and became the cause of failure of operation.[13] Even, PM was kept in dark till around 7:00 pm, a full hour and 40 minutes since the hijacking of IC 814 and he came to know only after disembarking from the aircraft in the VIP bay of Palam Technical Area.[14]

Landing in Lahore, Pakistan

Due to extremely low fuel level, the aircraft requested an emergency landing in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan initially denied the request. Pakistan briefly also switched off all lights at Lahore Airport.[15] On understanding that the only other option for the aircraft was to crash land, Lahore Airport switched on its lights and allowed the aircraft to land. India made two requests to Pakistan soon after the hijacked plane landed in Lahore; first to ensure the plane did not leave Lahore and second that Indian High Commissioner G. Parthasarathy in Islamabad be given a helicopter to reach Lahore as soon as possible, but the helicopter was provided when the airplane left Lahore and Lahore airport officials refuelled the aircraft and got their commandos to surround the plane and allowed it to leave Lahore at 22:32 IST.[16] The plane was there for two and half hours and Pakistani officials rejected the pilot's request to offload some women and children passengers due to tense relations with India.[17] The senior Foreign Office officials were told by Pakistanis that there were reports from the pilot that the hijackers had killed passengers on board which were found to be false later.[18]

Landing in Dubai, UAE

The aircraft took off for Dubai where 27 passengers aboard the flight were released.[17] The hijackers also released a critically injured 25-year-old male, Rupan Katyal, who was stabbed by the hijackers multiple times. Rupan had died before the aircraft landed in Al Minhad Air Base, in Dubai. Indian authorities wanted to carry out a commando hijack specialist operation in Dubai involving Indian military officials, which was rejected by the UAE government.[citation needed]

Landing in Kandahar, Afghanistan

After the aircraft landed in Kandahar, Taliban authorities, offered to mediate between India and hijackers, which India believed initially. Since India did not recognise the Taliban regime, it dispatched an official from its High Commission in Islamabad to Kandahar.[17] India's lack of previous contact with the Taliban regime complicated the negotiating process.[19][20]

However, the intention of the Taliban was under doubt after its armed fighters surrounded the aircraft.[21] The Taliban maintained that the forces were deployed in an attempt to dissuade the hijackers from killing or injuring the hostages but some analysts believe it was done to prevent an Indian military operation against the hijackers.[22][23] Later, it became apparent that Taliban, hijackers and ISI were working together in the mission, as revealed by RAW chief Ajit Doval. Doval also mentioned that if those people were not getting active ISI support in Kandahar then they could have got the hijacking vacated and the ISI had removed all the pressure they were trying to put on the hijackers and even their safe exit was guaranteed, so they had no need to negotiate an escape route. [24]

Negotiations

The Indian Government sent in a team for negotiations, headed by Vivek Katju, to discuss the demands of the hijackers, which included the release of:

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who had been imprisoned in connection with the 1994 Kidnappings of Western tourists in India, went on to murder Daniel Pearl and also allegedly played a significant role in planning the September 11 attacks in the United States.[30]

After the three militants landed in Kandahar, the hostages aboard the flight were freed. On 31 December 1999, the freed hostages of the Indian Airlines Flight 814 were flown back through special plane.[citation needed]

Meanwhile, the Taliban had given the hijackers ten hours to leave Afghanistan. The five hijackers departed with a Taliban hostage to ensure their safe passage and were reported to have left Afghanistan.[citation needed]

Aftermath

Ajit Doval, the RAW chief, who led the four-member negotiating team to Kandahar, described the whole incident as "diplomatic failure" of the government in their inability to make the US and UAE use their influence to help secure a quick release of the passengers.[31]

The case was investigated by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which charged 10 people out of whom seven including the five hijackers were still absconding and are in Pakistan.[32] [failed verification] On 5 Feb 2008, a special anti-hijacking Patiala House Court sentenced all three convicts namely Abdul Latif, Yusuf Nepali and Dilip Kumar Bhujel, to life imprisonment. They were charged for helping the hijackers in procuring fake passports and to take weapons on board.[33] However, CBI moved Punjab and Haryana High Court demanding death penalty (instead of life imprisonment) to Abdul Latif.[32] The case came up for regular hearing in high court in September 2012.[34] On 13 September 2012, the Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested terror suspect Mehrajuddin Dand, who allegedly provided logistical support for the hijacking of IC-814 in 1999. He allegedly provided travel papers to IC-814 hijackers.[35]

Captain Devi Sharan (Commander of IC814) recounted the events in a book titled Flight into Fear – A Captain's Story (2000). The book was written in collaboration with journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.

Flight Engineer Anil K. Jaggia also wrote a book specifically depicting the events unfolded during the hijacking ordeal. His book is titled IC 814 Hijacked! The Inside Story. The book was written in collaboration with Saurabh Shukla.

The CBI's application to convert the life imprisonment of Abdul Latif to a death sentence has been rejected. Also, Abdul Latif's application to decrease his sentence from life imprisonment has been rejected.[citation needed]

See also

Further reading

  • Misra, Neelesh (2000). 173 Hours in Captivity. HarperCollins. ISBN 8172233949.

References

  1. ^ "India wanted to raid IC-814 in Dubai, but Farooq Abdullah opposed swap, says former RAW chief AS Dulat". The Indian Express. 3 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Govt pressurised negotiators to end IC-814 hijacking by Dec 31: Doval". The Hindu. 1 January 2010.
  3. ^ Dhawan, Himanshi (2017). "ISI backed Kandahar hijackers: Plane crisis negotiator Ajit Doval". The Economic Times.
  4. ^ Dhawan, Himanshi (2017). "ISI backed Kandahar hijackers: Plane crisis negotiator Ajit Doval". The Economic Times.
  5. ^ Omar Sheikh sentenced to death in Pearl murder case, Rediff.com, 2002-07-15
  6. ^ "Other Millennium Attacks". PBS Frontline. 25 October 2001.
  7. ^ Riedel, Bruce O. (2012). Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad. Brookings Institution Press. pp. 58–59. ISBN 9780815722748.
  8. ^ Hiro, Dilip (2014). "War Without End: The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response". Routledge. pp. 287–288. ISBN 9781136485565.
  9. ^ a b "How Govt lost the IC-814 hijack deal". 7 September 2006. Retrieved 7 September 2006.
  10. ^ mustafa., seema. "The Real Story: Kandahar Hijacking, Not A 'Goof Up' But A Major Cover Up". The Citizen.
  11. ^ "Cover Story: Hijacking; ... in Amritsar, a speeding tanker causes panic". India-today.com. 10 January 2000. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  12. ^ "Ex-RAW chief wasn't totally honest with us in his book: Here's what Dulat didn't tell us about IC-814 - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com.
  13. ^ "Ex-RAW chief wasn't totally honest with us in his book: Here's what Dulat didn't tell us about IC-814 - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com.
  14. ^ mustafa., seema. "The Real Story: Kandahar Hijacking, Not A 'Goof Up' But A Major Cover Up". The Citizen.
  15. ^ "Pakistan Foreign Office called India to say they were outraged the plane had landed in Lahore". India Today.
  16. ^ "Pakistan Foreign Office called India to say they were outraged the plane had landed in Lahore". India Today.
  17. ^ a b c India-Pakistan in war & peace By Jyotindra Nath Dixit. Books.google.com. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  18. ^ "Pakistan Foreign Office called India to say they were outraged the plane had landed in Lahore". India Today.
  19. ^ The greater game By David Van Praagh. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  20. ^ Riedel, Bruce. "The Search for al-Qaeda", 2008
  21. ^ Hijacking and Terror in Sky By Giriraj Shah. Books.google.com. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  22. ^ Inside Al Qaeda By Rohan Gunaratna. Books.google.com. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  23. ^ Hijacking and hostages By J. Paul de B. Taillon. Books.google.com. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  24. ^ Dhawan, Himanshi (2017). "ISI backed Kandahar hijackers: Plane crisis negotiator Ajit Doval". The Economic Times.
  25. ^ The Independent: Pakistan blamed by India for raid on parliament
  26. ^ How we missed the story By Roy Gutman [dead link]
  27. ^ "Profile: Omar Saeed Sheikh". BBC News. 16 July 2002. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  28. ^ "Online NewsHour Update: Pakistan Convicts Four Men in Pearl Murder". PBS. 15 July 2002. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009.
  29. ^ Abhinandan Mishra (27 July 2008). "India's Response To Terrorism – Are We Losing The War?". Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ CNN Transcript "Suspected Mastermind of Pearl Killing Arrested". CNN. 7 February 2001. Retrieved 29 June 2006. 12 February 2002.
  31. ^ "IC-814 was India's 'Diplomatic Failure': Doval". Outlook. 24 December 2009.
  32. ^ a b "CBI seeks death penalty for IC-814 hijack accused". Outlook India. 2 October 2008. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ "Patiala court gives life imprisonment to IC-814 hijacking convicts". 5 February 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  34. ^ "Over 3 years in cold storage, case to come up for hearing in September". The Indian Express. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  35. ^ "IC-814 hijack: Key conspirator Mehrajuddin Dand arrested in Kishtwar district – India – IBNLive". Ibnlive.in.com. Retrieved 16 November 2012.

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