'It is sheer coincidence'

Onkar Singh

On December 24, 2000 -- exactly a year after IC 814 was hijacked -- Captain Devi Sharan will take off from Kathmandu for New Delhi. "Three of us who were there on that fateful flight -- my co-pilot, my flight engineer and I -- have been rostered to fly IC 814, on the same day, on the same route. I don't know if the cabin crew will also be the same," Captain Sharan told rediff.com

Five of the passengers on Flight 814, which took off from Kathmandu airport on December 24, 1999, were hijackers whose sole purpose was to free Pakistani Kashmiri militants in India's judicial custody. The plane landed successively at Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai before the hijackers finally found refuge at Kandahar airport in Afghanistan.

But Robin Pathak, director, public relations, Indian Airlines, scotches rumours of an anniversary flight. "You would appreciate that a hijack is not something an airline would like to celebrate. It is the sort of nightmarish experience anyone would like to forget as soon as possible. It is sheer coincidence if some members of the original crew have been listed for duty on the same flight."

A top intelligence official, though, says the decision is an extremely conscious one. "This is a clear signal to militant outfits that the Government of India will not be cowed down by their threats. The nation will not be intimidated by subversive activities or the act of hijacking."

Some passengers on last year's flight were outraged at the suggestion of an anniversary flight. They say they have no intention of travelling by it even if they get free passage.

"We have not forgotten the bitter memories of the flight that forced us to remain captive for eight days and face death virtually every single minute. How can you expect us to relive it by taking the same flight on the same day with the same crew? I am sure most of the passengers on that flight have not visited Kathmandu in the last year. We would rather go to some other place than visit Nepal again," says one passenger.

The Hijack: One Year On