After the release of Netflix’s IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, there has been a renewed interest in the incident, which led to the release of terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar. In a recent interview, former R&AW chief AS Dulat recalled how he personally went to meet the then Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, to request him to sanction the release of the two terrorists who were incarcerated in J&K jails. He also recalled escorting the prisoners from Jammu to Delhi in the same flight.
In a chat with Barkha Dutt on her YouTube channel Mojo Story, AS Dulat said that the then DIG of Jammu brought the terrorists from the jail to the aircraft. And after that, it was his duty to escort them to Delhi, where Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh was waiting for them. Jaswant Singh escorted the terrorists to Kandahar, where the hostages of IC 814 were being held. AS Dulat recalled receiving the terrorists at the tarmac, and said, “They were blindfolded. Maine kaha bitha do andar aur fir parda laga do, fir main bhi baith jaunga aur le jayenge. Toh inko bitha dia, parda laga dia and fir main baith gaya aur hum chale gaye (I said, ‘Make them sit inside and draw the curtains, and then I will also sit inside and we will leave’. So they were made to sit inside, the curtains were drawn, then I got in and we left).”
When Barkha asked if he came “face to face” with the terrorists, he said that he didn’t, but added, “Not that it’s a big deal.” He said, “They didn’t see me and I didn’t see them. I saw two blindfolded guys going in.” Dulat said that as soon as they reached Delhi, he handed them over to Jaswant Singh.
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AS Dulat also recalled his conversation with then J&K CM Farooq Abdullah who “gave me hell for three hours” and resisted the release of the terrorists until the end. Dulat recalled Abdullah saying that this was a “terrible mistake.” After the Cabinet Committee on Security meeting, where it was decided that the three terrorists would be released in exchange for the civilians who were being held hostage in Kandahar, Dulat was sent to Jammu and Kashmir to meet with Abdullah. “When I got there, it got pretty nasty,” he said, and added that “all hell broke loose” when they started talking about it at Abdullah’s residence. “He abused, he said everything. ‘You guys are making a terrible mistake.’ He picked up the phone and called LK Advani, called Jaswant Singh, he rung up everyone. He said you’ll regret this,” Dulat recalled.
Flight IC 814 was hijacked by five terrorists while it was en route from Kathamandu to New Delhi. There was 190 souls on board and 189 survived. The flight was hijacked when it was crossing Lucknow, and was first taken to Amritsar, then to Lahore, and later to Dubai, where 27 passengers were released. The flight was then taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan. The hostage situation went on for seven days.
Anubhav Sinha’s show on the incident is currently streaming on Netflix, and stars Vijay Varma, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Arvind Swamy, and Naseeruddin Shah, among others.
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