ABOUT THE FLIGHT “IC 814”

Indian Airlines Flight 814, commonly known as IC 814, was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 that was hijacked on 24 December 1999 by five members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The passenger flight, which was en route from Kathmandu to Delhi, was taken over shortly after it entered the Indian airspace at about 16:53 IST. A total of 190 individuals were aboard the aircraft, including 11 crew members, Captain Devi Sharan, First Officer Rajinder Kumar, and Flight Engineer Anil Kumar Jaggia, and 179 passengers.

The airplane created multiple ends, such as Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai. The hijackers released 27 passengers while they were still in Dubai, among whom served as a critically ill male hostage who had been repeatedly knifed by the hijackers. Later, on 25 December, the hijackers forced the aircraft to land in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Most of Afghanistan at the time was under Taliban oversight, including the Kandahar airport where the hijacked plane created its arrival. Taliban fighters confronted the aircraft, and it made it difficult for the outside world to come in as two inter-services intelligence officers from Pakistan had been offered.

 

HOW WAS THE HIJACKING PLAN EXECUTED?

Flight Departure (December 24, 1999):

Indian Airlines Flight IC 814, a Boeing 737, left from Kathmandu, Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport. The plane was destined for Delhi, India’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Hijacking Begins:

The plane had been taken across by five armed terrorists from the Pakistani militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen shortly after it switched off. They took over the aircraft and overpowered the crew.

Initial Demands:

The hijackers stated their demands: they wanted the release of two other militants and Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed group, who had been held imprisoned in Indian prisons.

Diversions:

Amritsar (December 24, 1999): The plane was first diverted to Amritsar in India. The hijackers sought refueling and then demanded to be flown to Pakistan.
Lahore (December 24, 1999): After Amritsar, the plane was diverted to Lahore, Pakistan, where the hijackers were given asylum by the Pakistani authorities. The plane had been refueled and taken to Dubai following a brief stay.

Negotiations and Standoff:

At that point, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was leading tense negotiations among the Indian government as well as the hijackers. The complicated nature of the situation was raised with the involvement of foreign agencies and dealers.

Release of Hostages (December 31, 1999):

After lengthy conversations, the Indian government provided in to the demands of the hijackers and released three militants from Indian prisons in exchange for the hostages’ release. Maulana Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar were the militants that got unrestricted.

End of the Crisis:

The hijackers released the hostages in Dubai, and the plane and its passengers were safely returned to Indian soil. The hijackers were allowed to leave Dubai, and their final destination was not disclosed.

 

INDIAN AIRLINES FLIGHT IC 814: CONTROVERSY

Reviews over “IC 814” had been mostly favorable, but disagreement developed as the true identities of the terrorists it conveyed remained under wraps. The audience got angry in the web series, which is based on the actual events of Indian Airlines flight 814 from Kathmandu, which was hijacked in by five terrorists in 1999, when it emerged that two of the hijackers possessed “Hindu” codenames, Shankar and Bhola.

The Vijay Varma movies received severe condemnation from internet users that contend it is an intentional endeavor to denigrate the Hindu community.

The hashtag #BoycottNetflix gained significant traction on X over the weekend, as numerous users, along with members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), voiced their discontent with the series.

Critics argued that the show portrayed the hijackers in a favorable manner and falsely suggested that they were Hindu. Head of the BJP’s social media division, Amit Malviya, imposed that the series either deceived the public into thinking that Hindus were beneath the hijacking and “justified the criminal intent” of the hijackers. India accuses Pakistan and militant groups based there’s for the December 1999 hijacking; the crisis ended only when New Delhi released three Islamist militants, including the leader of one such group, Masood Azhar.

Netflix Vice President Monika Shergill assured in a statement that it would make visible the terrorists’ accurate identity in the midst of the controversy. “The opening disclaimer has been updated with the real and code names of the hijackers for the benefit of audiences that might not be familiar with the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814. The statement stated, “The code names in the series reflect those used during the actual event.”

Shergill created these remarks following a meeting in New Delhi with Sanjay Jaju, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary. The ministry reached out to her as some groups were expressing worries regarding an array of issues, such as the hijackers’ use of Hindu code names and how some of them appeared as seemingly understanding.

More on Netflix, watch this amazing dystopian epic movie Kalki