Title: Hardly a defeat
Author: Keki N Daruwalla
Publication: The Observer
Of Business And Politics
Date: January 14, 2000
'Upon my belly sat the
saw of fear,' wrote Carl Shapiro in one of his poems. One can't think of
a more startling image. From Christmas eve to the new year, the sow of
fear sat on the nation's belly, as it morbidly watched the goings-on at
the Kandahar airport and hoped that the IC-814 flight would not come to
greater harm. And the thought that this is not a one-time affair and events
like this will keep repeating is more galling.
At the end of it all,
one can't easily fathom the reaction of the 'experts'. Day after day they
talked nonstop on those nonstop TV channels without knowing a thing about
what was actually happening in Lahore or Dubai or Kandahar. They have only
one pistol among them, said one expert! Assault the plane, exhorted another!!
Quite unmindful of the 'hostile' airspace of two countries that lay between
desire and consummation.
After the 'exchange'
- 150-odd against three terrorists there was an avalanche of criticism,
forgetting that tougher nations than India have had to release prisoners.
Nowhere is the ISI stronger than in Kandahar. The entire Pakistani consulate
there is manned by the ISI staff. Even the drafting of Afghan government
documents is done by the ISI since the Taliban are not too au fait with
English. (Pakistan similarly 'drafts' everything for the Organisation of
Islamic Conference, incidentally.) The Afghans run a coalition government
in Kandahar, if not the entire country - a coalition of the Taliban and
the ISI.
Pakistan will have to
realise that one can't emerge clean from something as messy as a hijack,
and especially one that has involved killing. Islamabad is asking for proof.
That itself is bit of an admission. From the time its former officer at
the Kathmandu embassy took the arms in his bag into the airport, the Pak
hand is fairly evident. Pakistan refused to take wen the sick and women
and children at the Lahore airport, or possibly the tragedy of Rupin Katyal
could have been averted, and with elementary medical treatment, he could
have been saved. At the Kathmandu airport, a Pakistani chief immigration
officer, formerly posted in Kathmandu, utilised the services of a first
secretary to smuggle in the arms. The entire operation was planned for
the rescue of the Pakistani, Masood Azhar. Masood Azhar and Sajjad Afghani
had been sent to Kashmir in 1993 to see that the Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami
and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen could be brought together under one umbrella organisation
called Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA). Sajjad Afghani was supposed to lead this
combined outfit in India.
The initial demand of
the Pakistani hijackers was only for Masood Azhar, till it was jacked up,
obviously at the instance of their Pakistani mentors. It is doubtful if
the hijackers who spoke chaste Urdu and did not know a word of Kashmiri,
knew the name of Mustaq Zargar Lutrum even.
The snapshots released
by the government and the confessions of the Harkat-ul-Ansar module smashed
in Bombay leave no room for any doubt about the identity of the hijackers
or the Pakistani hand behind it. Ever since Parvez Musharraf has taken
over, all the militant factions have been made to deliver. Otherwise, the
cash pipeline can always be choked by the Pakistanis. That accounts for
all the daredevilry and the stepped-up militancy in the valley.
A word about the Taliban.
From all accounts, the hijackers started brandishing many more arms once
they were in Kandahar. From two pistols, they started brandishing four
and their two hand-grenades got multiplied into six. These arms had not
been seen either in Dubai or in Lahore. Masood Azhar received a big hug
from the Taliban civil aviation minister. Five bags belonging to the hijackers
which were unloaded from the forward hold of the aircraft were suspected
of containing explosives. The bags were shown to the hijackers as they
sat in their get-away vehicle, flashing a rotary red light on top, and
on an indication from the hijackers, were removed from the hold. All this
tells its own tale.
We are now thinking in
terms of sky marshals. They will do us no good. I am not sure if they can
be that well-trained to realise what would happen to the plane if they
shoot a hijacker and the bullet goes through the body of the aircraft.
Knowing the risks, it would be quite unlikely for a sky marshal to open
fire on a hijacker, at least while the aircraft is flying. Thus, if he
takes no action, he will be penalised for cowardice. If he is trigger-happy,
he could lead everyone to his or her doom. One sure way of making an aircraft
hijack-proof would be to allow no hand baggage at all. No hand bags for
ladies and no brief cases. Perhaps you could let someone carry a book.
Even newspapers should be provided within the aircraft. Then, the hijacker
would have to resort to the Mario Puzo trick of getting someone to leave
weapons in the aircraft toilet!
One needs to reiterate
that the bargain we have got is the best under the circumstances. People
are talking today about the security forces being demoralised. I don't
believe a word of it. The army fought tooth and nail to get back even dead
bodies lying on remote hilltops under heavy enemy fire. I refuse to believe
that it would have been good for their morale if 150 passengers were blown
up. In political theory, the state has already become a dirty word. If
it showed concern for its 150 citizens, no one has the right to criticise
it. If the hijackers could treat their 150 hostages as sacrificial lambs,
the state certainly was not duty-bound to follow suit!
(The author was in the
IPS.)
