Why Did IC-814 Series Mute ISI Role?

Captain
Devi
Sharan
and
Flight
Engineer
Anil
Jaggia
both
confirm
that
the
hijackers
seemed
to
know
a
lot
about
flying
an
aircraft.
Without
help
from
the
ISI
or
the
Pakistan
army,
it
was
impossible,
points
out
Utkarsh
Mishra.

I
could
finally
finish
watching

IC-814:
The
Kandahar
Hijack
on
Netflix.
Despite
its
fast-moving
plot
and
a
battery
of
great
actors,
the
series
was
not
really
binding
apart
from
a
couple
of
middle
episodes.

It
faced
strong
criticism
from
different
sides,
so
much
so
that
the
information
and
broadcasting
ministry


found
the
need
to
intervene
and
summon
Netflix
India’s
content
head,
after
which
the
OTT
platform
decided
to


add
real
names
of
the
hijackers
at
the
beginning
of
each
episode.

The
series
is
based
on
the
book

Flight
into
Fear
by
Captain
Devi
Sharan,
who
piloted
the
fateful
flight.
IC-814’s
flight
engineer
Anil
Kumar
Jaggia
also
wrote
a
book
about
the
episode
called

IC
814
Hijacked:
The
Inside
Story.

I
went
through
both
these
books
and
found
that
the
makers
have
tried
to
stick
to
Captain
Sharan’s
book
to
a
large
extent.
Although
both
these
books
were
mostly
about
what
was
happening
with
the
passengers
and
crew
of
the
flight
during
the
period
of
captivity,
they
also
give
some
of
the
details
of
what
was
happening
outside
which
the
authors
came
to
know
later.

However,
at
times
the
series
somewhat
deviates
from
the
details
Captain
Sharan
has
given
in
his
book,
and
some
of
these
deviations
could
have
given
rise
to
the
controversies.

So,
here
I
list
some
of
the
objections
raised
with
the
series
and
whether
the
corresponding
sequences
shown
in
it
were
different
from
what
actually
happened.

‘Hiding
identities
of
terrorists
behind
Hindu
names’

It
was
the
most
ridiculous
of
controversies
that
surrounded
the
series.

Firstly,
both
Captain
Sharan’s
and
Anil
Jaggia’s
books
identify
the
five
terrorists
—
named
Ibrahim
Athar,
Shahid
Akhtar
Sayed,
Sunny
Ahmed
Qazi,
Mistri
Zahoor
Ibrahim,
Shakir
—
by
their
code
names
throughout:
Chief
(or
Red
Cap),
Doctor,
Burger,
Bhola
and
Shankar,
respectively.

Why?
Because
that’s
how
they
were
calling
themselves
and
each
other
and
the
passengers
and
crew
of
IC-814
didn’t
know
better
till
they
were
freed.
They
knew
the
terrorists
by
these
names
only.
As

this
statement
(external
link)
issued
by
the
Union
home
ministry
on
January
6,
2000,
also
explains.

The
series
could
not
have
changed
this
fact.

In
fact,
Capt
Sharan
has
recounted
in
his
book
that
the
hijackers
never
even
revealed
their
faces.
They
had
their
faces
covered
all
the
time
with
monkey
caps
and
lifted
it
up
a
bit
only
when
they
had
to
eat.

Most
of
the
time,
the
people
were
forced
to
sit
with
their
heads
down.
Doing
this
for
hours
was
very
uncomfortable
for
them
and
many
of
them
felt
claustrophobic.
But
the
hijackers
did
not
relent.

Secondly,
the
series
makes
no
attempt
to
hide
their
identities.
Five
minutes
into
the
series,
in
a
private
conversation
recorded
by
the
Research
and
Analysis
Wing
(RA&W),
we
hear
one
of
the
terrorists
calling
another
by
his
real
name,
to
which
he
retorts,
‘Don’t
take
names,
please.’

We
also
see
Masood
Azhar’s
father
telling
his
other
son,
the
hijacker
who
later
went
by
the
name
of
Chief,
to
‘bring
his
brother
back
or
sacrifice
his
own
life
in
the
attempt’.
Later,
the
series
identifies
Azhar
as
an
‘exporter
of
Islamic
Jihad’.
Also,
his
father
runs
a
lot
of
‘madrasas
across
Pakistan’.

After
all
this,
anyone
who
thinks
that
the
hijackers
were
Hindus,
because
two
of
them
took
codenames
Bhola
and
Shankar,
is
sadly
yet
another
child
left
behind.

‘It
humanises
hijackers’

A
section
of
people
also
vented
out
their
anger
on
social
media
over
the
‘humane
projection’
of
hijackers
in
the
series.

When
the
government
summoned
Netflix
India’s
content
head,
news
reports
cited
‘official
sources’
as
saying
that
‘nobody
has
the
right
to
play
with
the
sentiments
of
the
people
of
this
nation’.

One
can
claim
that
the
very
act
of
depriving
innocent
people
of
their
freedom
and
liberty
and
forcing
them
into
a
situation
where
they
constantly
fear
for
their
lives
is
itself
an
inhuman
act.

The
series
shows
the
terrorists
always
threatening
the
passengers
and
crew,
they
hit
some
of
them
so
badly
that
they
bleed
profusely,
they
mercilessly
stab
two
passengers,
one
of
whom
dies
(25-year-old
Rupin
Katyal,
who
got
married
only
20
days
earlier
and
was
returning
from
his
honeymoon
with
his
wife
Rachana).

However,
there
are
sequences
in
the
series
where
the
hijackers
—
especially
Burger
—
are
shown
helping
the
injured,
including
Katyal.
This
didn’t
happen.

In
fact,
a
passenger
recounts
in
Anil
Jaggia’s
book
that
Katyal
was
begging
for
water,
and
an
air-hostess
tried
to
help
him
by
providing
water,
but
the
hijacker
going
by
the
name
Doctor
refused
and
asked
him
to
be
covered
in
a
blanket
instead.

Capt
Sharan’s
book
also
reveals
—
as
shown
in
the
series
—
that
Burger
was
the
most
talkative
one
and
he
kept
cracking
jokes
with
people.
The
passengers
were
also
ready
to
cooperate
with
him,
perhaps
to
be
‘on
the
right
side
of
the
hijackers’.

The
following
two
paragraphs
perfectly
sum
up
the
paradoxical
situation:

For
Burger,
the
meals
were
a
bit
of
a
joke.
He
made
fun
of
the
passengers.
‘What
would
you
like
to
eat,
ladies
and
gentlemen?
What
can
I
serve
you?’
he
would
say.
Burger
would
insist
that
‘special
khana’
was
arriving.
What
he
seemed
to
be
consciously
doing
was
to
keep
the
passengers
relaxed.

If
he
can
joke
with
us,
he’s
not
going
to
kill
us,
was
the
logic
that
seemed
to
comfort
many
of
the
passengers.
In
fact,
some
of
the
newly
married
women
would
be
very
coy.
‘Burger
bhaiya,
what’s
for
dinner
tonight?’
they
would
ask.
‘Oh,
special
khana
for
you,’
he
would
reply.

I
noticed
everyone
trying
to
help
them,
to
ingratiate
themselves
even.
It
was
as
if
the
passengers
felt
that
they
would
be
spared
if
they
cooperated.
If
they
were
on
the
right
side
of
the
hijackers,
they
thought,
they
wouldn’t
be
shot.
I
realised
later
that
it
was
the
beginnings
of
what
is
called
the
Stockholm
syndrome,
where
prisoners
begin
to
sympathise
with
their
kidnappers
or
captors.

So,
the
scenes
where
all
this
is
shown
are
not
completely
inaccurate.

There
are
a
couple
of
scenes
where
Burger
and
Doctor
could
be
seen
as
justifying
their
actions.
These
are
perhaps
based
on
a
conversation
Captain
Sharan
had
with
Chief.
When
he
asked
him
about
Rachna
Katyal
(who
did
not
know
that
her
husband
had
been
killed),
Chief
replied,
‘She
is
only
one
girl.
In
Jammu
and
Kashmir,
25,000
of
my
sisters
have
no
news
of
their
husbands!’

‘It
gives
a
clean
chit
to
Pakistan
and
ISI’

This
is
absolutely
correct
and
is
one
of
the
most
glaring
inaccuracies
with
the
series.
It
began
by
showing
that
an
Inter-Services
Intelligence
(ISI)
agent
working
as
a
first
officer
with
the
Pakistan
embassy
in
Kathmandu
was
colluding
with
the
hijackers,
it
fell
short
of
clearly
establishing
Pakistan’s
role
in
the
hijacking.
Whereas
the
Indian
government
statement
on
January
6,
2000,
called
it
‘Pakistan’s
Operation
Hijack’.

At
the
end,
the
series
informs
that
after
the
three
terrorists
were
freed
as
per
the
hijackers’
demand
and
the
hostage
passengers
were
released,
RDX
was
recovered
from
the
house
of
ISI’s
station
head
at
Kathmandu.

Yet,
it
goes
on
to
say
that
the
ISI
was
not
linked
to
the
hijack
as
the
three
freed
terrorists
and
the
hijackers
were
called
for
dinner
at
Osama
bin
Laden’s
basecamp
at
Tarnak
Farms,
but
the
ISI
was
kept
away
from
it.

It
is
baffling
that
the
writers
used
this
discreet
information
to
disassociate
Pakistan
and
ISI
from
the
hijacking.
Even
if
ISI
was
kept
away
from
the
said
gathering,
it
could
have
been
by
design.

On
the
other
hand,
the
makers
ignored
other
glaring
evidence
that
clearly
establishes
a
Pak
hand
behind
this
incident.

Both
Captain
Sharan
and
Anil
Jaggia’s
books
confirm
that
the
hijackers
were
ready
to
release
the
injured
passengers
at
Lahore,
but
Pakistan
refused
to
accept
them,
going
against
all
international
norms.
It
remains
a
matter
of
debate
whether
Rupin
Katyal
could
have
been
saved
if
Pakistan
had
decided
otherwise.

While
it
mentions
the
fact
that
a
top
R&AW
officer
then
stationed
in
Kathmandu
was
also
on
board
IC-814,
which
remained
a
well-guarded
secret
in
India
till
very
late,
it
failed
to
show
that
Islamabad
had
publicised
this
detail
with
much
glee,
blaming
India
for
‘staging
the
hijack
to
defame
Pakistan’.

All
five
hijackers
were
Pakistani
nationals.
Their
four
aides,
who
were
members
of
Rawalpindi-based
Harkat-ul
Mujahideen,
were
arrested
from
Mumbai.

Unlike
Nepal
and
the
UAE,
Pakistan
refused
to
cooperate
with
the
Indian
government’s
investigation
in
the
case.
While
they
refused
to
take
injured
Indian
passengers,
the
hijackers
and
released
terrorists
faced
no
problem
in
crossing
the
Afghanistan-Pakistan
border.
Later,
too,
Pakistan
made
no
attempts
to
arrest
or
apprehend
the
hijackers
or
the
terrorists.

Captain
Sharan
and
Jaggia
both
confirm
that
the
hijackers
—
especially
Burger
—
seemed
to
know
a
lot
about
the
technicalities
of
flying
an
aircraft.
They
seemed
to
have
completed
their
drills
well.
Without
any
help
from
the
ISI
or
the
Pakistan
army,
it
was
impossible.

The
series
hints
at
al-Qaeda’s
hand
behind
the
hijacking.

Dilip
Hiro’s
book

War
without
End:
The
Rise
of
Islamist
Terrorism
and
Global
Response
lists
the
hijacking
as
a
part
of
al-Qaeda’s
‘millennium
attack
plots’.

As
per
Captain
Sharan
and
Jaggia,
the
hijackers
too
kept
talking
about
a
‘millennium
gift
to
the
Indian
government’.

It’s
possible
that
the
two
are
linked
and
that
could
also
explain
why
the
Taliban
entertained
the
hijackers
and
involved
themselves
in
the
negotiations.

But
to
say
that
Pakistan
or
the
ISI
had
no
clue
about
it
is
baseless.

The
series
goes
a
step
ahead
and
shows
that
at
Dubai’s
Al
Minhad
airport,
the
official
who
negotiated
the
release
of
passengers
was
a
Pakistani
and
he
convinces
the
terrorists
to
do
so
by
making
them
recall
Prophet
Muhammad’s
words.

This
is
only
partly
true.
One,
as
said
earlier,
the
hijackers
were
ready
to
release
the
injured
passengers
in
Lahore
itself.
And
two,
while
Captain
Sharan
and
Jaggia
both
praise
the
efforts
and
assistance
of
an
ATC
official
called
Abdullah
at
Dubai
airport,
neither
mentions
that
he
was
a
Pakistani.
And
he
was
certainly
not
reciting
Quranic
verses
to
them.

Why
the
makers
chose
to
add
this
extra
bit
of
information
is
anyone’s
guess.

A
few
more
hits
and
misses

If
I
can
speak
for
other
viewers
like
me,
I
think
many
of
them
would
have
liked
to
see
more
about
the
situation
in
Kashmir
at
that
time
and
about
the
history
of
terrorism
in
the
Valley.
How
the
hijacking
of
IC-814
was
similar
to
that
of
Indian
Airlines’
plane

Ganga
in
1971
by
Kashmiri
separatists
and
how
the
Indian
government
reacted
then.

The
series
tried
to
cover
some
of
these
issues
in
the
intervening
voice-overs.
But
it
was
not
as
detailed
as
it
needed
to
be.

It
shows
how
the
Indian
authorities
failed
to
react
in
time
to
prevent
the
aircraft
from
taking
off
from
Amritsar.
It
was
perhaps
the
only
incident
for
which
everyone
associated
with
the
establishment
at
the
time
acknowledges
their
failure.

But
apart
from
Pankaj
Kapur
playing
a
character
based
on
then
external
affairs
minister
Jaswant
Singh,
other
important
members
of
the
Cabinet
Committee
on
Security,
including
the
prime
minister,
are
absent
from
the
cast.

While
it
is
true
that
Singh
was
authorised
by
then
prime
minister
Atal
Bihari
Vajpayee
to
supervise
the
response,
the
Crisis
Management
Group
was
being
monitored
by
then
home
minister
L
K
Advani.

Advani
was
also
reportedly
upset
at
the
decision
to
release
the
terrorists.

All
these
intra-governmental
dynamics
were
missing
from
the
show.

The
portrayal
of
journalists
covering
the
crisis
was
also
very
superficial.
It
was
the
age
of
television
and
there
was
footage
of
the
plane
surrounded
by
the
Taliban
in
Kandahar
and
of
protests
by
the
relatives
of
passengers
in
the
streets
of
New
Delhi.
Some
of
this
footage
is
used
in
the
series
too.

Yet,
it
highlights
only
one
journalist
(with
help
from
another)
from
a
single
newspaper
focusing
on
the
incident,
even
though
we
know
that
an
event
of
this
magnitude
would
have
energised
entire
newsrooms,
that
tend
to
be
chaotic
even
on
normal
days.

There
were
reports
in
the
media
about
one
of
the
survivors
being
displeased
by
the
series
not
showcasing
the
attempts
by
the
hijackers
to
proselytise
their
hostages.

Captain
Sharan’s
book
gives
details
of
these
attempts
by
Doctor
and
Burger.

‘God
has
given
you
a
mind.
All
of
you
should
embrace
Islam.
Then
you
will
be
able
to
experience
the
wonders
of
the
religion.
It
is
the
best
religion
in
the
world,’
Sharan
quotes
Doctor
as
saying.

However,
the
series
is
silent
about
these
instances.

In
conclusion,
it
can
be
said
that
the
series
had
the
potential
to
be
much
better.
However,
some
controversies,
such
as
the
names
of
the
hijackers,
were
blown
out
of
proportion.

While
there
are
inconsistencies
between
the
series
and
the
actual
events,
if
viewed
purely
as
a
cinematic
interpretation
of
a
real
incident,
we
can
agree
to
disagree
with
it.