Netflix’s newest collection, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, has captured international consideration because it delves into one of many darkest chapters in India’s aviation historical past. The collection, which started streaming on August 29, recounts the harrowing occasions surrounding the hijacking of Indian Airways flight IC 814 on Christmas Eve in 1999.
On December 24, 1999, Indian Airways flight IC 814, carrying 180 passengers and crew, was hijacked by 5 masked terrorists shortly after taking off from Nepal, Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan Worldwide Airport.
The flight was en path to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Worldwide Airport. The scenario shortly escalated when the hijackers compelled Captain Devi Sharan to redirect the airplane to Lahore, Pakistan. Nevertheless, Pakistani authorities denied permission for the plane to land, forcing the pilot to divert to Amritsar, India, for refueling.
Regardless of efforts by Indian authorities to delay the flight’s departure from Amritsar and usher in Nationwide Safety Guard (NSG) commandos, the hijackers grew to become suspicious of the delay and threatened to start out killing hostages. This prompted the pilot to take off once more, and the airplane finally landed in Lahore, the place it was refueled underneath the situation that it will instantly go away Pakistani airspace.
The hijacked airplane’s subsequent cease was Dubai, the place 27 passengers, together with the physique of a 25-year-old man named Rupin Katyal who had been fatally stabbed, have been launched. The scenario grew much more dire because the airplane lastly landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, then underneath Taliban management. This transfer put India in a precarious place, because it had no diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime.
The 5 hijackers, later recognized as members of the Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), made their calls for clear: the discharge of 36 terrorists held in Indian prisons and a ransom of $200 million. As the times dragged on, the Indian authorities confronted mounting strain from the hostages’ households and the general public. Regardless of preliminary resistance, the Vajpayee authorities, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, finally agreed to barter.
The Taliban, longing for worldwide recognition, provided to mediate between the Indian authorities and the hijackers. Though the Taliban was accused of offering help to the hijackers through the standoff, they finally satisfied the terrorists to cut back their calls for. The ultimate settlement resulted within the launch of three high-profile terrorists: Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Maulana Masood Azhar, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar.
On December 31, 1999, Indian Overseas Minister Jaswant Singh flew to Kandahar with the three terrorists to safe the discharge of the remaining hostages. The change was seen as a mandatory, albeit controversial, transfer to finish the disaster.
The discharge of those terrorists had far-reaching penalties. Maulana Masood Azhar, protected by Pakistan’s Inter-Providers Intelligence (ISI), went on to ascertain Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a terror group answerable for quite a few assaults on Indian soil. These embrace the 2001 Parliament assault, the 2016 Pathankot Air Power base assault, and the 2019 Pulwama assault, which killed 40 Indian paramilitary personnel.
India’s resolution to launch the terrorists as a part of the Kandahar Hijack deal has been extensively criticized. Nationwide Safety Advisor Ajit Doval, who oversaw the change, later described it as a “diplomatic failure” and a “bloody shame” for the nation.
The Kandahar Hijack stays a pivotal second in India’s fashionable historical past, highlighting the complicated interaction between terrorism, diplomacy, and nationwide safety. The Netflix collection brings this darkish chapter to life, reminding viewers of the ordeal that examined India’s resolve and reshaped its strategy to counterterrorism.
Because the collection unfolds, it serves as each a grim reminder of the previous and a cautionary story in regards to the ongoing threats posed by international terrorism.
