Farooq Abdullah was not in favor of releasing the terrorists after the Kandahar kidnapping case, Dulat told the story

New Delhi : The Kandahar plane hijacking case is in the news again. The reason is the Netflix series ‘IC-814’ based on this 1999 incident. There is a controversy over the series. Allegations are being made that an attempt has been made to present a soft and good image of Pakistani terrorists in the series. Former head of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing A.S. Dulat has called the controversy over the series unnecessary. Dulat was part of the Crisis Management Group formed to deal with the plane hijacking crisis. In exchange for the safe release of the passengers, India had to release three dreaded terrorists who later carried out many terrorist attacks. Dulat told that he/she was given the responsibility of convincing the then CM of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah. he/she was not in favor of releasing the terrorists. In an interview given to our associate Times of India, Dulat told that he/she was given the responsibility of convincing Farooq Abdullah. In fact, on 24 December 1999, the Indian Airlines plane coming from Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked by Pakistani terrorists. The terrorists killed a passenger named Rupin Katyal who was returning from Nepal after his/her honeymoon. For the safe release of the passengers, three dreaded terrorists – Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Zargar and Umar Sheikh had to be released. Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir at that time. he/she was not in favor of releasing these terrorists who were lodged in Srinagar jail. he/she was also the Chief Minister during the 1989 Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case and even then he/she was against the release of the terrorists. However, the terrorists were released both the times.

In an interview to the Sunday Times, Dulat said that it was very difficult to convince Farooq Abdullah. he/she said, “When I had to go to the Jammu and Kashmir CM for the release of Masood Azhar and Zargar, I faced a lot of difficulties. he/she troubled me a lot. he/she told me, ‘You will have to pay a heavy price for this.’ he/she was not at all ready to release Zargar, but in the end I somehow convinced him/her.”

When asked if the release of terrorists hurts his/her conscience, Dulat said that we did the best that could be done in the circumstances at that time. he/she said, ‘We did the best possible thing in that situation. Do you think the Indian government would have reacted very differently if such an incident had happened now? The players are different, the atmosphere is different. It will be choreographed differently. PM Modi is not PM Vajpayee.’