1999-2000 Ordeal ::::: First hand account: IC 814 hijack and 'on spot' reporting in Delhi

 First hand account: IC 814 hijack and 'on spot' reporting in Delhi

New Delhi 

"Once the storm is over you won't remember how you made it through ........... When you come out of the storm you won't be the same person".

-  Japanese writer Haruki Murakami says in 'Kafka on the shore'

Dec 24, 1999 - was eve of Christmas. The media organisation I worked for was in a party mood. More importantly it was to be hosted by the big boss - who loved saying -- "At top you are alone". Initially I thought he felt the pains of a loner. 

Maybe I was wrong ... absolutely wrong for it came out in due course -- he believed he was special. That's a bit personal.

Old memories cannot be narrated without being personal ! Or can it be ? At least emotional fools cannot.

'Jugad' is a special qualification in journalism and in Delhi circles --- this was the most crucial lesson I learnt from the hijack crisis.

snap: social media/western media outlets 

The moral of the story is simple - when challenging situations come -- donkeys will slog... but when it comes to giving credit .... that will go to other donkeys - both male and female !

We 'rootless' jokers slogged for eight days in the chilly weather running between Aviation Ministry - Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan to airports and office. But credit on Jan 1, 2000 - cake party went to one economic reporter and a legal reporter.

I made up my mind practically following the missive from what Leo Tolstoy had said --"Happiness is an allegory, unhappiness a story". 

snap - social media 

Of course, my news organisation broke the story. The 'typist' was a Kashmiri reporter and many months later in Mumbai - I realised the importance of typing -- because everyone was giving him credit !

The credit accidentally for 'breaking' the story should go to a friend called P C Hota and another senior Kashmiri A K Dhar. 

Jokingly, everyone mocked those days calling me 'Dhar ka chela'. In any case those days Dhar was the 'wrong kashmiri' to make a Guru. But that's my specialty. 

Wrong profession, wrong mentors (not jugadu sponsors). 

Hota required an Indian Airlines ticket to reach home on a very short notice.

He requested Dhar. The senior colleague called up IA PRO and from the other side .... came the response, "I am busy today one plane has been reportedly hijacked". 

Dhar's news sense/antenna got alerted. He screamed out, "ND, desk me puchcho koi plane hijack hua".

I ran... a senior (and genuinely respected Editor) came out from his cubicle and asked, "India ... ? Nothing like that".

Dhar called up the Indian Airlines PRO once again and so the news was "flashed".

The boss party was still hosted in a five star hotel. 

My bosom guest house partner Kirti Patil was the sports guy. About two hours back, he told me : "Forget that chamchagiri (party), I will bring rumali Roti and kabab masala from Gole Market... we will have our own Christmas party". 

We two were sons from Fauzi camps. So generally we used to 'Dutch'. I gave my share of the contribution -a hundred rupee note.  He had a bike and so by 9.30-10 pm we planned ... our party will be in Sports Editor (Late Jagannath Rao's - J R's cubicle).

Our party was spoiled. Kirti did not give up. He said, "I don't have much work today ...I will get our dinner". So dinner was ensured. 

I skipped the party where junior bosses would smile and dance most of the time going out of the way. 

The Czar would sit in a corner and laugh at those who were "relishing five star hotel khana". The jokes could be crude and heartless but the norm was everyone had to laugh !

For next eight days and night ordeal continued for everyone - helpless passengers on board the aircraft, their near and dear ones, policemen, journalists, TV crew and even non-journalists in media organisations. Many non-journalist friends used to say, "our winter holidays were planned but no chhuti this time".

On Dec 25th, R C Rajamani - with the magical power in his pen - wrote something like this, "India woke up to a sombre morning on the last Christmas Day of the millennium as the hijacked aircraft kept hopping from one airport to another".

The aircraft carried 190 occupants which included 179 passengers and 11 crew members including Captain Devi Sharan, first officer Rajinder Kumar, and flight engineer Anil Kumar Jaggia.

The aircraft flew to a series of locations Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai. 

While in Dubai, the hijackers released 27 passengers including a critically injured male hostage, who had been stabbed by the hijackers multiple times. Later, on 25 December, the hijackers forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar in Afghanistan. During the time, most of Afghanistan including the Kandahar airport where the hijacked plane landed, was under the control of Taliban. 

Taliban men had encircled the aircraft and the further presence of two officers from the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan made it difficult for any external intervention.

During those eight days, Kirti often gave me lift on his bike even as his duty shift did not coincide with my round the clock engagements. 

On Dec 31 night the plane landed at the Delhi airport but by then the country had paid a big price - released the radical Islamist terrorist Masood Azhar, a Pakistani.

At the start of negotiations, of course the five hijackers demanded the release of 31 people in Indian jails plus a $25-million payment/sweetener. 

Masood Azhar later founded Jaish-e-Mohammad which attacked Parliament in 2001 and staged other terror raids on Indian soil.British-born terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh, later accused of the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl; and Kashmiri militant Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar were also released.

This episode remains like a scar in the otherwise 'good stint' of the Vajpayee government.

L K Advani, then Home Minister, later confessed negotiations were not handled effectively and the release of the terrorists were bad memories of the NDA dispensation.

Fate is often more important than other things in life and in death too.

Former President Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma expired on Dec 26th,1999. But entire news was dedicated to the hijack drama.

Electronic media did not show maturity and often put pressure on the Vajpayee government - to the glee of communists and Congress party - as relatives of the passengers started demanding immediate release of the terrorists so that their dear and near ones could come back.

Demonstrations by the 'selfish relatives' were disturbing as the government was handling a tough situation. A few of them also barged in once during the press conference by foreign minister Jaswant Singh.

In all these, I remember the man named Jaswant Singh.

He handled the negotiations with the terrorists in coordination with NSA Brajesh Mishra.

The Congress had lampooned enough at him for Indian Airlines plane hijack fiasco and sought to rubbish Jaswant’s contribution in re-establishing a workable relation with the US aftermath Pokhran-2.

Pranab Mukherjee questioned the wisdom of Jaswant accompanying the terrorists in the same aircraft taken to Kandahar."Would the Prime Minister dance if the hijackers demanded it?," he had said.

In the words of Strobbe Talbott of course, "Jaswant was as hardheaded and tenacious an advocate for his government’s position as I had ever encountered”. This was about post-Pokhran 2 parleys.

In 2024, the lessons of Kandahar ordeal tells us once again -- why we need a 'strong' Prime Minister such as Narendra Modi. You need a man - who can take the battle to the enemy camp and teach Pakistanis the bitter lesson in the language they understand the best.

IC 814 is a proof - Indian Sickularism has a double standard for everything. 

This is yet again reflected in the manner the Sickularism and the western media and others are handling the Kolkata rape horror or even the change of regime in Bangladesh. 

Shame is a small word.   

(This piece is not to show anyone in poor light. Memories often make one frank and candid. I love Journalism like a religion or even more than that !! 

-- What an experience that was to tell the grand children....if they will be interested. At least the next-generation children and 'the lady wife' are not.) 

ends 

Blogger and 'friend' Daughter !!