1971 Indian Airlines hijacking

Coordinates: 31°31′17″N 74°24′12″E / 31.52139°N 74.40333°E / 31.52139; 74.40333
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

1971 Indian Airlines hijacking
Satwari Airport
Occupants32
Passengers29
Crew3
Fatalities0
Survivors32 (all)

On 30 January 1971, an

Lahore Airport in Pakistan where the passengers and the crew were released and the aircraft was burnt down.[1][2][3]

Ganga was one of the oldest aircraft in the Indian Airlines fleet and was already withdrawn from service but was re-inducted days before the hijacking.[2]

India retaliated to the hijacking and subsequent burning by banning overflights of Pakistani aircraft over Indian territory. The ban, occurring in the run-up to the December 1971 war between the countries, had a significant impact on troop movement into the erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.[2] Pakistan reacted by charging the hijackers and other NLF militants with conspiracy. The crackdown severely weakened militant organisation. Subsequently, the leader of the movement, Amanullah Khan, moved to Britain, where he established a new organisation called the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front.

Planning

Hashim Qureshi, convicted of the hijacking in Pakistan

National Liberation Front (NLF), a self-declared 'armed wing' of the Azad Kashmir Plebiscite Front. Qureshi was persuaded to join the NLF and given an ideological education and lessons in guerrilla tactics in Rawalpindi. In order to draw the world's attention to the Kashmiri independence movement, the NLF planned an airline hijacking fashioned after the Dawson's Field hijackings by the Palestinian militants. Hashim Qureshi, along with his cousin Ashraf Qureshi, was ordered to execute one. A former Pakistani air force pilot Jamshed Manto trained him for the task. However, Qureshi was arrested by the Indian Border Security Force when he tried to reenter Kashmir, India with arms and equipment. He negotiated his way out by claiming to help find other conspirators that were allegedly in the Indian territory, and sought an appointment in the Border Security Force to provide such help. Maqbool Bhat sent replacement equipment for the hijacking, but it fell into the hands of a double agent, who then turned it over to the Indian authorities. Undeterred, the Qureshis made look-alike explosives out of wood and hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft called Ganga on 30 January 1971.[4][5]

Burning

The hijackers landed the aircraft at

Zulfikar Bhutto showed up at the airport and paid a handsome tribute to the hijackers. Indian Government then refused to carry out the demands. The aircraft lay on the tarmac for eighty hours, during which the Pakistani security personnel thoroughly searched the aircraft and removed papers and postal bags they found in it. Eventually, upon the advice of the authorities, Hashim Qureshi burnt the aircraft.[4][6]

Crackdown

JKLF

For some time, the Qureshis were lauded as heroes. After India reacted by banning overflight of Pakistani aircraft over India, the Pakistani authorities claimed that the hijack was staged by India, and arrested the hijackers and all their collaborators. A one-man investigation committee headed by Justice Noorul Arifeen declared the hijacking to be an Indian conspiracy, citing Qureshi's appointment in the Border Security Force. In addition to the hijackers, Maqbool Bhat and 150 other NLF fighters were arrested. Seven people were eventually brought to trial (the rest being held without charges). The High Court acquitted all of them of treason charges. Hashim Qureshi alone was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to seven years in prison. Ironically, Ashraf Qureshi was released even though he was an equal participant in the hijacking. This is said to have been due to a deal made by Zulikar Bhutto, by now the President of Pakistan, who declared that he would convict one hijacker but release the other.[4][7]

High Court that the Ganga hijacking had emboldened the people to question the corrupt practices of Azad Kashmiri leaders and, in reaction, the government arrested them and forced them to confess to being Indian agents.[10]

To escape the close surveillance and pressure from the Pakistan government, Amanullah Khan and Abdul Khaliq Ansari moved to the UK, where they found active support from the

Kashmir insurgency in the 1980s.[11]

In popular media

A movie titled IB71, starring Vidyut Jammwal, was released in May 2023, which is based on this hijacking.[12]

See also

Further reading

  • Kishin R. Wadhwaney (2005). Indian Airports (Shocking Ground Realities). Diamond Pocket Books.
    ISBN 978-81-288-0872-2
    .
  • Willem Wendt (1993). Fokker 100 Production List. Stichting Airnieuws Nederland.
    ISBN 978-90-74250-08-5
    .

References

  1. ^ "Who was behind hijacking of IA plane 'Ganga'?". Fouq Library. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  2. ^
    Rediff. Archived
    from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  3. ^ "Hijack into terror". The Times of India. 6 October 2001. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  4. ^ a b c Swami, India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad 2007, pp. 112–113.
  5. ^ Jamal, Shadow War 2009, p. 92-93.
  6. ^ Jamal, Shadow War 2009, p. 94-95.
  7. ^ Jamal, Shadow War 2009, p. 96-97.
  8. ^ In Amanullah Khan's death Kashmiri separatism lost its champion Archived 1 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Catch News, 27 April 2016.
  9. ^ Abdul Khaliq Ansari passes away Archived 15 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Greater Kashmir, 17 June 2013.
  10. ^ Statement of Advocate Abdul Khaliq Ansari before ‘Azad Kashmir” High Court in 1971 Archived 15 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Jammu Kashmir Democratic Liberation Party, 8 June 2015.
  11. ^ Sökefeld & Bolognani, Kashmiris in Britain 2011, p. 118.
  12. ^ "What is the true story behind the IB 71 movie, based on the 1971 India-Pak war?". Jagranjosh.com. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.

Bibliography

External links
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