Man who monitored 1999 'Kandahar hijack' admits 'goof-up'

[Zarvan]

In this picture taken 30 December 1999, Taliban Islamic militia commandos ride in the rear of a truck towards an aircraft of Indian Airlines hijacked by Islamic Kahsmiri militants which stands on the tarmac at Kandahar airport. (Getty Images)
Text resize:AAA

NEW DELHI: Arun Jaitley defends release of terrorists to end Kandahar plane hijack crisis

HC notice to Punjab on Kandahar plane hijacker's plea for release on parole
While he didn't go into the details of the goof-up and what exactly transpired at the five-hour CMG meeting on December 24 while the plane was parked in Amritsar, Dulat said that "no one in Delhi or Punjab wanted to bell the cat". In the meantime, the plane flew away, and with it the opportunity to gain an upper hand over the hijackers. Later, Dulat says "everyone shifted the blame to each other".

Speaking ahead of the launch of his book, 'Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years', Dulat said that the then Punjab police chief Sarabjit Singh, who was in charge of the situation when the plane was on the ground in Amritsar, said Delhi never told him that IC-814 was not to be allowed to take off. Singh did tell Delhi that he had at his disposal Punjab commandos trained in anti-terrorism operations who could storm the aircraft but Delhi's response was that it did not want any casualties.

After the plane flew off to Lahore - the next stop was Dubai and eventually Kandahar - Dulat writes that the "CMG degenerated into a blame game...with the cabinet secretary being head of the CMG as one target and NSG chief Nikhil Kumar, another."

He also criticized the handling of the hostage trade-off in 1989 when the daughter of the then Union home minister and current J&K CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was kidnapped. Dulat said, "Rubaiya's kidnapping is a classic case on how not to handle a hostage crisis. We did everything wrong. Because it was such a high-profile kidnap, every friend of Mufti appeared on the scene and was busy scoring points. So instead of releasing one militant - Hamid Sheikh - which was all the JKLF wanted, we released five."

He pointed out that the release of the four others didn't matter as much as the psychological impact of that trade-off. "They felt that they made Delhi bend."

Man who monitored 1999 'Kandahar hijack' admits 'goof-up' - The Times of India
@nair @SpArK @SarthakGanguly @AUSTERLITZ @GURU DUTT @levina @Skull and Bones

 

[Azad-Kashmiri]

Singh did tell Delhi that he had at his disposal Punjab commandos trained in anti-terrorism operations who could storm the aircraft but Delhi's response was that it did not want any casualties.

After the plane flew off to Lahore - the next stop was Dubai and eventually Kandahar - Dulat writes that the "CMG degenerated into a blame game...with the cabinet secretary being head of the CMG as one target and NSG chief Nikhil Kumar, another."

Once again, it proves how over rated the Indians are. It's nothing but a 'paper tiger'. We are told never to seek position of Amir, but with the right Amir our situation would be completely different.

 

[Sneaker]

Once again, it proves how over rated the Indians are. It's nothing but a 'paper tiger'. We are told never to seek position of Amir, but with the right Amir our situation would be completely different.

Then please stop blaming RAW for everything that happens in pakistan...

 

[ares]

Once again, it proves how over rated the Indians are. It's nothing but a 'paper tiger'. We are told never to seek position of Amir, but with the right Amir our situation would be completely different.

Pakistani terrorist with assistance from ISI and Pakistani diplomatic mission in Nepal (who was later declared as persona non grata by Nepal govt and chucked out) ..hijack a plane..threaten to blow hundreds of people..kill a newly married couple on the plane and you feel proud??!!

Guess you are getting what was coming for you!

 

[Azad-Kashmiri]

Pakistani terrorist with assistance from ISI and Pakistani diplomatic mission in Nepal (who was later declared as persona non grata by Nepal govt and chucked out) ..hijack a plane..threaten to blow hundreds of people..kill a newly married couple on the plane and you feel proud??!!

Guess you are getting what was coming for you!

Aw Bhai, if you know anything about me and have read my comments; you'll know that I'm totally against ANYONE who targets civilians. It's cowardice. We don't want to be maligned like what the Indians do in IOK and attack women!

ISI this ISIS that, Bhai jan chor with this rubbish. You guys are incompetent and at least be honorable enough to accept that?

Then please stop blaming RAW for everything that happens in pakistan...

A plane was taken from India with Indian passengers and you did nothing? Bhai, please put a positive spin on this all you like and I'm not interested.

It is extremely shameful a plane full of innocent passengers was hijacked and you guys are playing ISI this and ISI that.

 

[ares]

Aw Bhai, if you know anything about me and have read my comments; you'll know that I'm totally against ANYONE who targets civilians. It's cowardice. We don't want to be maligned like what the Indians do in IOK and attack women!

ISI this ISIS that, Bhai jan chor with this rubbish. You guys are incompetent and at least be honorable enough to accept that?

If we are incompetent in recovering a hijacked plane, what does that say about you?

When these very same terrorist..have gone into your air bases, Naval bases, blown up your AWACs and P-3Cs..have attacked your army headquaters multiple times.. have blown up you ISI headquarters..massacred your children in schools..taken over entire cities..killed seventy thousand of you in half a decade...What does it say about you??

Aw Bhai, if you know anything about me and have read my comments; you'll know that I'm totally against ANYONE who targets civilians. It's cowardice. We don't want to be maligned like what the Indians do in IOK and attack women!

ISI this ISIS that, Bhai jan chor with this rubbish. You guys are incompetent and at least be honorable enough to accept that?



A plane was taken from India with Indian passengers and you did nothing? Bhai, please put a positive spin on this all you like and I'm not interested.

It is extremely shameful a plane full of innocent passengers was hijacked and you guys are playing ISI this and ISI that.

Plane was hijacked from Nepal not India, where people from Pakistani diplomatic mission in Nepal, helped the hijackers bypass security.

 

[Sneaker]

A plane was taken from India with Indian passengers and you did nothing? Bhai, please put a positive spin on this all you like and I'm not interested.

It is extremely shameful a plane full of innocent passengers was hijacked and you guys are playing ISI this and ISI that.

That is why ISI is no 1 and RAW is sh!t. Now stop blaming RAW for everything from TTP attack to heatwave..

 

[Hindustani78]

Vajpayee govt consulted every party on IC-814 hijacking, says BJP | Zee News
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2015 - 13:44

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said that the NDA government under former prime minister Atal bihari Vajpayee had consulted every political party before taking a decision on how to proceed when the Air India Flight IC-814 was hijacked.

"The then-government had consulted every political party when they were taking decisions regarding IC-814. Decisions on the Kandahar hijack were taken at the highest level and everybody was involved in decision making," BJP leader MJ Akbar said at a press briefing.

Detailed story to follow.

ANI

*********************

There were already sanctions placed on Republic of India because of the Pokhran II in 1998 and this hijacking was done 5 months after the Kargil war. 8 Pakistani soldiers who were captured were repatriated on 13 August 1999.

Kargil review committee report was tabled in Parliament and it was mentioned about the link between the Kargil war and Kandhar Hijacking which was carried out by Pakistan based hijackers. Taliban and Afghans by now would have understood who have used them in 1999.

 

[nair]

Vajpayee govt consulted every party on IC-814 hijacking, says BJP | Zee News
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2015 - 13:44

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said that the NDA government under former prime minister Atal bihari Vajpayee had consulted every political party before taking a decision on how to proceed when the Air India Flight IC-814 was hijacked.

"The then-government had consulted every political party when they were taking decisions regarding IC-814. Decisions on the Kandahar hijack were taken at the highest level and everybody was involved in decision making," BJP leader MJ Akbar said at a press briefing.

Detailed story to follow.

ANI

*********************

There were already sanctions placed on Republic of India because of the Pokhran II in 1998 and this hijacking was done 5 months after the Kargil war. 8 Pakistani soldiers who were captured were repatriated on 13 August 1999.

Kargil review committee report was tabled in Parliament and it was mentioned about the link between the Kargil war and Kandhar Hijacking which was carried out by Pakistan based hijackers. Taliban and Afghans by now would have understood who have used them in 1999.

The goof up mentioned here is while the aircraft was in India.....

 

[livingdead]

it was not a goof up, people start blame game once things had happened. delhi did not want any civilian death, which commando action might have brought. People and media forced govt to negotiate with their hands tied.
There was intense pressure from relatives to bring back everybody. I would have probably done the same but it also shows how frighteningly powerless our govt is, in such situation.
This was before proliferation of news media, currently people like governance from street, which means people can gather in a big place and dictate you what to do.
@jamahir swaraj is coming, people deserve it though, stupid people deserve the after effect of stupidity.

 

[nForce]

Once again, it proves how over rated the Indians are. It's nothing but a 'paper tiger'. We are told never to seek position of Amir, but with the right Amir our situation would be completely different.

Usually people celebrate one's own success. This is for the first time I saw someone celebrate someone's failure.

The goof-up that is the subject of the thread here, has got nothing to do with Pakistan in the first place, and yet there you are, trying to sniff your victory in even that.

Tell me, are you so desperate to see something positive coming towards your way ?

That's like a whole new level of being a loser..!!!

 

[Hindustani78]

The goof up mentioned here is while the aircraft was in India.....

It was more about the lives of the civilians who were inside the plane.

"So instead of giving out clear instruction to Punjab police, which was incharge on ground there... nobody was willing to say this plane should never be allowed to leave Amritsar. That nobody said, because nobody was willing to take that call. Everybody thought what will happen if people die," he said.

"It happened on 30th December, finally a call was taken to release three militants... Initially, they wanted 105 then it came down to 35, to 15 and finally our team that had gone to Kandahar managed to bring it down," he said.

 

[nair]

A and you guys are playing ISI this and ISI that.

You have any idea where is Mazood Azhar these days?

 

[Hindustani78]

You have any idea where is Mazood Azhar these days?

Pakistan where else more.

 

[nair]

I have seen couple of interviews of this guy..... I think there should be a ban on these guys... I mean RAW/IB chief or NSA on writing a book......