IC 814 Kandahar Hijacking: Then terrorists would not have been able to reach Kandahar... The former RAW chief told where the mistake happened

Posted on 4th Sep 2024 by rohit kumar

There has been a lot of uproar over the web series 'IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack' which was recently released on Netflix. Many organizations including BJP protested against the Hindu names of the terrorists in the film. After this, the government also issued a notice to Netflix.

 

In fact, in 1999, Indian Airlines plane IC 814 was hijacked by Pakistani terrorists, which they took to Kandahar in Afghanistan via Amritsar instead of Delhi.

 

How did the terrorists hijack the plane and where did the Indian security personnel lapse in this? The then chief of the intelligence agency RAW, Amarjit Singh Dulat, has made big revelations on this.

 

Controversy erupted over Hindu names

The terrorists who hijacked the Indian Airlines plane had named themselves Hindu code names. In the web series too, the terrorists have Hindu names (Chief, Burger, Doctor, Bhola, and Shankar). There was no mention of the real names of the terrorists anywhere in the film, which sparked controversy. Finally, after the government's notice, Netflix said that a disclaimer would be shown at the beginning of the series. In this, the real names of the terrorists (Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Syed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, and Syed Shakir) will be shown.

 

Mistake in decision making: Former RAW Chief

 

Former RAW Chief Dulat has admitted in the Kandahar hijacking case that India had made a mistake in decision-making.

 

He said that when the terrorists landed the plane in Amritsar, the security personnel had time to ensure that the plane did not go out of Indian territory. But here a mistake was made.

 

Dealing was the last option

 

Dulat further said that when the plane left Amritsar, he had no option left except to deal with the terrorists. Talking to TV channel India Today, he said that it was a good deal for that time. He said that I had accepted the mistake in decision-making many times before.

 

Everyone was afraid of bloodshed

Dulat said that he had a long conversation with the then Punjab DGP Sarabjit Singh. He said that Sarabjit Singh said that he is not KPS Gill who would put his job at stake. The DGP also said that the then Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal also did not want bloodshed in Amritsar.

 

However, the DGP had said that if he had got clear signals from Delhi, the decision would have been taken, but the Vajpayee government of that time also did not want bloodshed.

 

Passengers were released in exchange for terrorists

Let us tell you that there were 179 passengers including crew members on board the plane. To save them, a deal was made between the Indian government and the Taliban on 28 December 1999. Under the agreement, India had accepted the Taliban's demand to release Maulana Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Zargar. The then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh had reached Kandahar with the three terrorists.

 

After reaching Kandahar, officials of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI brought along relatives of the three terrorists, who were identified. After this, all the passengers were brought back safely.