The Netflix series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’, released today, chronicles the event that shook the nation. On Christmas Eve 1999, Indian Airlines Flight 814, bound for Delhi from Kathmandu, Nepal, was hijacked by five masked men. The crisis lasted seven days and remains the darkest chapter in India’s aviation history. As the nation was gripped by the crisis, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government faced massive backlash for the way the situation was handled.

What happened on December 24, 1999?

On December 24, 1999, five masked terrorists hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814, 40 minutes after it took off from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. The aircraft was en route to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Captain Devi Sharan, the pilot on board, was coerced into flying the hijacked plane to Lahore. However, Pakistan denied landing permission.

Low on fuel, the flight was subsequently diverted to Amritsar to refuel. While Indian authorities tried to stall the take-off, the hijackers grew suspicious and threatened the pilot to take off. The hijackers wanted to land the plane in Pakistan. Authorities, however, were reluctant to let the aircraft land. They even turned off all lights and navigational support at the airport. As the aircraft was running low on fuel, Captain Sharan attempted a desperate crash landing. Eventually, Pakistan allowed the plane to refuel in Lahore on the condition that it would depart immediately after.

After refueling, the flight was taken to Dubai but was denied permission to land there as well. As India attempted to resolve the situation, the aircraft was allowed to land at Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE. Here, the terrorists released 27 passengers, including the body of 25-year-old Rupin Katyal, who had been fatally stabbed by Zahoor Mistry, one of the hijackers.

The plane was then finally landed at the hijackers’ original destination, Kandahar in Afghanistan, which was under Taliban rule and not recognized by India. The remaining passengers were held hostage for six days.

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The string of negotiations

While the passengers were held at Kandahar airport, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government negotiated with the terrorists. The terrorists demanded that India release 36 prisoners in exchange for the hostages and a ransom of $200 million.

A senior Ministry of External Affairs official told ‘India Today’ in 2000, “For us, it was one of the most difficult assignments in recent times. We were expected to develop a rapport with the Taliban, with whom we hardly had any communication, let alone a relationship.”

The five hijackers were identified as Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir. They belonged to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), a Pakistan-based Islamist terror group.

Despite some reluctance over releasing the prisoners, the government was pressured to negotiate, with the Taliban mediating between the government and the hijackers. After lengthy deliberations, the Indian government managed to convince the hijackers to release the hostages in exchange for three prisoners.

The hijackers demanded the release of HuM members Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Masood Azhar, as well as the Pakistan-backed Kashmiri militant Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar. Subsequently, then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh flew to Afghanistan on the evening of December 30 with the militants on board to exchange them for the hostages.

As reported by ‘The Independent’, the Indian government assumed that the Taliban would arrest the hijackers. However, the Taliban granted them passage to Quetta in Pakistan.

Who were the released prisoners?

All three terrorists who were released have since been associated with major terror attacks. Masood Azhar founded Jaish-e-Mohammed, the group responsible for the 2001 Indian Parliament attack and the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was later arrested for the abduction and murder of ‘The Wall Street Journal’ reporter Daniel Pearl.

Political criticism

The BJP government faced severe backlash for its handling of the crisis. Notably, criticism was levelled for allowing the aircraft to leave Indian soil while it was in Amritsar.

A.K. Doval, the former Intelligence Bureau Chief who led the four-member negotiating team to Kandahar, described the event as a “diplomatic failure” and a “bloody disgrace” for India.

The Netflix series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ is directed by Anubhav Sinha. It has been written by Adrian Levy and Trishant Srivastava. It features an ensemble cast including Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma, and Pankaj Kapur. The series is an adaptation of Captain Devi Sharan’s book ‘Flight into Fear’.