21ST CENTURY TERROR
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IC-814: The Kandahar shame story
Published on Thu, Sep 07, 2006 at 10:37, Updated on Fri, Sep 08, 2006 at 12:24 in India section
Tags: 21st Century Terror, Nat Geo
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On December 26, 1999, a whole new drama unfolded at Kandahar, Afghanistan, soon after the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814 landed there. Even as the plane came to a halt on the tarmac, the Taliban militia surrounded it with the hijackers still on board. For the 162 passengers and crew onboard IC-814, a long, fearful wait had just begun.
A day later, on December 27, 1999, a team of Indian negotiators landed in Kandahar. Unknown to the Taliban, the Indian team had a team of National Security Guard commandos. Clearly, till that moment, India had kept the option of storming IC-814 open.
"Immediately after we landed there, we found that we were surrounded by Taliban irregulars - shabbily dressed people carrying various types of weapons. They had taken positions in such a way that is not the conventional tactical positions for protection of an aircraft. It was almost like offensive positions," remembers Ajit Doval, the key negotiator for the Indian team.
The hijackers' main demand was the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, the Secretary General of Harkat-ul-Mujhahideen, a terrorist organisation operating in Kashmir.
"In addition to the release of Mohammad Masood Azhar, (they asked for) the release of 35 others, return of the coffin of Sajjad Afghani, a terrorist, and a payment (by India) of $200 million. We would send our appropriate responses through our negotiating team in Kandahar and in the meantime, let the country and the international community reflect on this," former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh recalls.
On the fifth day of the hijack, on December 28, 1999, the negotiations were still dragging on. For the passengers and the crew in captivity, conditions within the plane were worsening.
Recalls Daman Soni, one of the passengers abroad IC-814: "Mere brother-in-law jo mere saath the, usne aath dino ke liye kuch nahin khaya. Kyonki toilets overflow kar rahe the. (My brother-in-law, who was with me, ate nothing in eight days, because the toilets were overflowing.)"
On Day 8 of the hijack on December 31, 1999, the Indian Government finally announced that three militants will be exchanged for the safe release of all the passengers.
But not everyone agrees that it was the best deal to be struck. "I think the end deal was the worst-case scenario for India. And I believe it was completely unnecessary," Ajai Sahni, Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict Management, argues.
The three terrorists freed were Maulana Masood Azhar, then a top leader of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen; Omar Sheikh, a British national and a graduate of the London School of Economics who was a devoted follower of Maulana Masood Azhar; and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, the chief commander of the Al-Umar Mujhahideen, who was in jailed for terrorist attacks in Kashmir.
Hours after the announcement, the released terrorists drove away as free men along with the hijackers with the Taliban escorting them. And on board IC-814, it was time for celebration for the passengers and the crew.
But then seven years later, a disturbing question still remains unanswered. Did the Indian Government err in releasing the three dangerous terrorists?
Maulana Masood Azhar surfaced in Pakistan merely a month after his release. He floated a terrorist outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and directed a series of terrorist attacks against India that claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians. India is still paying the price for succumbing to terrorists at Kandahar.
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