Amid row over 'IC 814' web series, a look at other hijackings that rocked India

The hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC814 on the tarmac in Kandahar. (Pic credit: Reuters)

Twenty five years after the infamous Kandahar hijacking of IC-814, the harrowing event is back in focus with a OTT series detailing the incident and the painstaking efforts taken by the government to ensure the safe return of the passengers on board.

However, the series quickly ran into controversy amid demands by a section of social media users for boycott of the series "IC 814". The Kandahar Hijack" for allegedly hiding the real identities of the terrorists involved in the 1999 incident. Social media users also alleged that the makers of the series have whitewashed the crimes of Pakistani terrorists through cinema.

BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya also expressed outrage at the serial. On X, he wrote: “The hijackers of IC 814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC 814.”

At least 154 passengers and crew were held hostage for eight days and the stand-off ended when hardcore terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were released and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took them on a special plane to Kandahar. Five terrorists Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter and Sayed Shakir hijacked the IC-814 plane during its flight from Kathmandu to Delhi on December 24 that year.

Here's a look at other high-profile hijackings that dominated headlines:

Before IC 814 was hijacked and taken to Kandahar, the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in 1984 by Khalistani terrorists remained the longest in Indian aviation history. The hijackers faked weapons initially, but got a paper-wrapped pistol from Pakistan's ISI after they diverted the plane to Lahore.

In the wee hours of August 24, 1984, the Boeing 737-2A8 took-off from Delhi's Palam Airport for Srinagar, via Chandigarh and Jammu. As the flight touched down in Chandigarh, seven hijackers, affiliated to the outlawed All India Sikh Students Federation, all in their teens or early twenties, stormed into the cockpit of Indian Airlines Flight 421.

Dal Khalsa founder Gajinder Singh Khalsa was one of the five men who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight to seek the release of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale among others.The group hijacked the Indian Airlines flight IC-423 which took off from Delhi’s Palam airport for Srinagar on September 29, 1981. They hijacked the Indian Airlines flight, with 111 passengers and 6 crew members on board, and forced the plane to land in Lahore to seek the release of several Khalistani extremists, including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

Lasting 36 hours, the Boeing jet shuttled between at least four different airports. And, what enabled the lesser-known hijacking was a German pistol, concealed in a white package, which made its ominous debut after the jet touched down in Lahore.

The IC 421 hijacking, which took place exactly 40 years ago, isn't as fresh in public memory as the hijacking of IC 814. This despite the fact that the hijacking of the Indian Airlines plane in 1984 was marked by a dramatic and tense sequence of events one after another, airport after airport.

In January 1993, Indian Airlines Flight 810 en route from Lucknow Airport to the Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport was hijacked and returned to Lucknow. The hijacker demanded the release of all karsevaks arrested after the Demolition of the Babri Masjid situated in Ayodhya and for a temple be built at Ram Janmabhoomi . The hijacker later identified as Satish Chandra Pandey stated his reason for the hijacking, as a means of protest for them Prime minister Narasimha Rao's assurance that Babri Masjid would be remade. The hijacker surrendered after talking to then MP from Lucknow Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former prime minister of India. The bomb he carried was also found to be phony.

In March 1993, Indian Airlines Flight 439 was hijacked en route from Delhi to Madras by a hijacker claiming to be strapped with explosives. The hijacker was later identified as Hari Singh, a truck driver from Haryana. He stated the reason behind this hijacking as a protest against the ongoing Hindu-Muslim riots at that time in which more than 2,000 people died. He forced the plane to land in Amritsar (after being denied landing permission in Lahore) and demanded political asylum in Pakistan. His demands of a 40-day asylum in Pakistan and permission to speak to Pakistani media was rejected but, was allowed to speak to Indian media at Amritsar airport after his surrender. The hijacker subsequently surrendered and the explosive was found to be a disguised hair-dryer.