Hijacking of Indian Airline

Kandahar Hijacking of Indian Airline Flight IC-814

Indian Airlines Flight 814 (abbreviated IC – 814) took off from Kathmandu, Nepal for New Delhi on December 24, 1999. Shortly after the aircraft entered Indian airspace (around 5:30 pm), it was hijacked by five afghan nationals. The hijackers threatened to blow up the plane with a bomb and ordered (flight pilot) Captain Devi Sharan to “fly West”. The hijackers wanted to head towards Lahore but the Pakistani authorities, wary of being linked with the terrorists, initially refused landing permission. This, coupled with the paucity of fuel, forced the hijackers to make an Emergency landing at Amritsar for refueling. But the Indian government wasn’t able to capitalize on this window of opportunity to disable the plane. After brief halts at Lahore and Dubai, IC-814 finally landed at Kandahar, Afghanistan. The hijackers demanded the release of three dreaded terrorists, secure in covert support of the Islamic Taliban regime .India, like Israel, tried a number of diplomatic avenues to no avail. Ultimately, as a political face –saving exercise , the Indian government had to give in to the hijackers demand ,and it continues to pay the price for the same even today (as evidenced by the role played by the freed terrorists in attacks on the Indian parliament and more recently, the Taj and the Oberoi hotels)