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Geneva. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday revealed that his father was on board the hijacked flight in 1984 and said he had a unique perspective on the aspects of “both sides” – family members and those in the government – in such situations. Jaishankar was responding to a question about the recently released television series on the hijacking of IC814 in 1999 during an event here.
Jaishankar said, “How as a young officer I was part of the team that was dealing with the kidnapping case. On the other hand, I was among the family members who were pressuring the government about the kidnapping.” During the question-answer session after addressing the Indian community, one of the people sitting there asked the minister for his comment on the recent Netflix series ‘IC814: The Kandahar Hijack’.
Jaishankar said that he has not seen the series. However, he shared his personal experience regarding the hijacking incident. He said, “In 1984, a plane was hijacked… I was a very young officer. I was part of the team that was dealing with it. I called my mother and told her that I cannot come, there has been a hijacking. I came to know that my father was on that plane. The plane stopped in Dubai. Fortunately, no one died, but something could have gone wrong.”
The Indian Airlines flight from Delhi to Srinagar was hijacked on 24 August 1984 and diverted to Dubai. The plane was flying over Pathankot when it was hijacked. After about 36 hours, the 12 pro-Khalistan hijackers surrendered to the authorities and all 68 passengers and six crew members were released without any harm. Jaishankar was an IFS officer and became a minister in the central government after retirement. His father K. Subrahmanyam was an IAS officer and regularly commented on strategic issues.
Tags: S Jaishankar
first published : September 14, 2024, 03:05 IST
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