New Delhi: IC-814 The Kandahar Hijack, released recently on Netflix, is in a lot of controversy. This web series is based on the hijacking of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 going from Nepal to Kandahar on 24 December 1999. In 1999, the government released three terrorists in exchange for the hostages. The incident of releasing the terrorists is surrounded by mystery and conspiracies till date. This incident created an image of the Indian government bowing down to terrorism and raised questions on the security of the country. After the series on Netflix, the 1999 hijacking incident has again come into discussion. After which the then RAW chief Amarjit Singh Dulat and his colleague Anand Arni put their point in front of the media. Arni was part of the team that negotiated with the hijackers.
The kidnappers demanded the release of 105 terrorists
An HT report quoted Dulat as claiming that the chief negotiator at the time and current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval was constantly sending messages from Kandahar that the matter should be resolved as soon as possible and the kidnappers' demands should be accepted. Arni revealed that the kidnapping was planned by Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar Alvi's elder brother Athar Ibrahim Alvi and his younger brother Rauf Asghar Alvi. The kidnappers had initially demanded the release of 105 terrorists.
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Talks were made on releasing three terrorists
The Indian negotiating team limited this demand to the release of Masood Azhar on December 29, but agreed again to the release of three terrorists – Masood Azhar, Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar – on December 30. Arni also said that the negotiating team had spoken to him before the released terrorists and hijackers were taken away.
Which officers took charge
It is worth noting that the IC-814 hijacking case was with the then NSA Brajesh Mishra. He was getting intelligence from RAW chief Dulat and IB chief Shyamal Dutta. The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Home Minister LK Advani were monitoring the entire process. The Cabinet Secretary at that time was Prabhat Kumar and the CEO of Indian Airlines was Anil Baijal. The negotiation team sent to Kandahar was led by IB Additional Director Ajit Doval. Doval was accompanied by Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) Vivek Katju, Joint Director (Operations) Nehchal Sandhu. RAW was represented by CD Sahay and Anand Arni.
The government should consider making the records public
It is important to note that Doval is now the NSA and Sandhu does not speak to the media. The Modi government should therefore consider making the records of the IC-814 hijack case public, especially after Dulat and Arni speak out.
Important facts related to IC-814 hijacking
- The negotiation team led by Ajit Doval was never in direct contact with the IC-814 hijackers or the released terrorists. Doval's team was negotiating with the then Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil and Civil Aviation Minister Akhtar Muhammad Usmani.
- These two Taliban leaders were taking direct instructions from Taliban supremo Mullah Omar, who was stationed 25 km away from Kandahar airport. It is not difficult to guess who Mullah Omar was talking to, as the man behind the kidnapping was ISI chief Lieutenant General Mahmood Ahmed. Ahmed was very close to Mullah Omar and was expelled from the ISI for his role in the 9/11 terror attacks and for funding the Hamburg cell led by al-Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Atta.
- The initial demands of the kidnappers were that the slain Harkat-ul-Ansar terrorist Sajjad Afghani be buried and 36 terrorists lodged in Indian jails be released. Afghani was arrested along with Masood Azhar by the IB in 1994 from the outskirts of Srinagar.
- Later, the negotiating team reduced this demand to three terrorists – Masood Azhar, Omar Saeed Sheikh and a small Kashmiri terrorist Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and at no stage was the demand limited to just one terrorist.
- Given his experience of dealing with Pakistani terrorists while serving as additional director of Kashmir, Ajit Doval wanted more time for talks with the Taliban. He conveyed this to the then NSA Brajesh Mishra.
- However, under pressure from the families of the hostages, Congress and National Conference leaders, the Vajpayee government made it clear to Doval that it wanted the hostages back before the beginning of the new century. The media was also constantly putting pressure on the government. The plane that brought back the hostages was a Boeing 737, which entered Afghanistan after getting approval from Pakistan's Zhob Air Traffic Control.
- This same plane, with the hostages seated and some negotiators standing in the cockpit, took off from Kandahar before the last sunset of the 20th century.
- Given the Taliban regime and Mullah Omar's control over Kandahar airport, the released terrorists were driven to the IC-814 aircraft in a Toyota Land Cruiser, so that the hijackers could confirm that Azhar, Sheikh and Zargar had been released.
- The hostages and the negotiation team were brought back to India before midnight on December 31, 1999. No one knew where the released terrorists or the hijackers were taken. There is speculation that Masood Azhar went to meet Mullah Omar and the hijackers fled to Pakistan via the Zhob ATC crossing in Balochistan.
- India faced humiliation after the IC-814 hijacking. Doval suggested that the remaining 33 terrorists, whose release was sought by the hijackers, should be kept in separate jails and dealt with as quickly as possible as such hijackings could happen again.
- This proposal had the support of Home Minister LK Advani and the then IB Director Shyamal Dutta. But Brajesh Mishra rejected this proposal. It is not difficult to guess on whose advice he might have done so.
