Trigger warning: Article mentions weapons and death.
Former Punjab police director general Sarabjit Singh has recalled the ordeal in December 1999 when the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814 from Kathmandu landed in Amritsar. Singh described his constant communication with officials in New Delhi during the incident. “There will be firing. And if there is firing, I cannot tell you how many people will die,” he recalled.
Flight IC 814 stopped in Amritsar for about 45 minutes, then took off, eventually landing in Kandahar, where it remained for several days as Indian authorities negotiated with the terrorists for the release of the hostages. The decision to allow the plane to fly from Amritsar was later seen as a critical failure by Indian authorities, as it soon entered hostile territory.
In an interview with The Tribune, Sarabjit Singh revealed that he first heard about the hijacking through news reports. Although he was in Chandigarh at the time, he had a strong intuition and ordered two companies of commandos to be deployed at the Amritsar airport as a precaution. He mentioned being in touch with then IB chief Shyamal Dutta and former RAW chief AS Dulat. Meanwhile, then DIG Border Jaswinder Singh had reached the ATC tower at Amritsar airport and established contact with Flight Captain Devi Sharan.
He said, “When I was told that the plane had landed in Amritsar, my first reaction, before I spoke to Delhi, was, ‘Don’t refuel’. Devi Sharan was insisting, ‘Please give us fuel, please give us fuel’. Meanwhile, Delhi was asking me to do something, and I said, ‘Look, I have two companies there, they are equipped with automatic weapons, but we don’t have any special equipment for hijacking. We don’t even have a ladder to reach the plane. There will be firing. And if there is firing, I can’t tell you how many people will die’.”
Sarabjit told Shyamal Dutta that the ground forces were unable to see inside the plane and had no way of knowing how many people could be harmed if they tried to enter the cabin. In response, Dutta asked if the plane could be punctured. Sarabjit said he found the suggestion amusing and told Dutta that it was not possible, as the plane’s wheels were large, tubeless, and impervious to bullets, unlike scooter tyres.
Meanwhile, Jaswinder had managed to delay the refuelling process by telling Sarabjit that Bojer’s staff was on a lunch break. Sarabjit further revealed that Jaswinder had called Bojer and, without informing him, had deployed two men near him to disable the wheels. Sarabjit expressed concern that any such action could provoke a dangerous reaction from the hijackers inside the plane.
Sarabjit said that during the entire incident, Devi Sharan kept pleading to refuel the plane. Sharan also told the air traffic control that the hijackers had killed a passenger. Sarabjit said that Jaswinder had given him this message, to which he asked if any body had been thrown out of the plane. When Jaswinder said no, Sarabjit said that he would not believe this claim until a body was seen outside the plane.
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