External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that it was a very interesting moment because on one hand, he was part of the team that was solving the plane hijacking case and on the other hand, he was also part of the family that was putting pressure on the government to release all the hijacked people safely.
ShareForeign Minister S Jaishankar on Friday narrated a 40-year-old incident and revealed that in 1984 when he was a fresh and young officer of the Foreign Service and was himself a part of the team dealing with the hijackers in a plane hijacking case, he came to know that his father was also on board the same plane that he was trying to solve. His father Krishnaswamy Subramaniam was also a civil service officer. The hijackers hijacked that plane and took it to Dubai.
When Jaishankar, who is currently on a visit to Geneva, was asked about the Netflix series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’, the Foreign Minister said that he has not seen the film. Therefore, he does not want to comment on it. Meanwhile, he said that when he was a young officer in 1984, he was part of the team solving the Indian Airlines plane hijacking case, which was dealing with the hijackers. He said that when I called my mother to tell her that I will not be able to come home due to being involved in the plane hijacking case, my mother told me that his father was also on the same plane.
Jaishankar said it was an interesting moment because on the one hand, he was part of the team that was solving the plane hijacking case and on the other hand, he was also part of the family that was putting pressure on the government to release the hijackers.
Let us tell you that on 24 August 1984, an Indian Airlines flight IC 421 from New Delhi to Srinagar was hijacked when it took off from Chandigarh to Jammu. As soon as the flight took off, pro-Khalistan hijackers entered the cockpit and said that the plane had been hijacked. At that time, those hijackers had a dagger and a needle used in turbans as weapons. All the hijackers were young and were raising slogans in support of Khalistan. Later that plane was taken to Dubai passing over Pathankot. After 36 hours, 12 pro-Khalistan hijackers surrendered and all 68 passengers along with six crew members were left safely.