ISLAMABAD: President Zia announced here that 14 Sikh hijackers, currently detained in Pakistan will be shortly tried under international Hijacking Laws. Five Sikh youths had been hijacked an Indian Airlines plane in 1981 and forced it to land at Lahore Airport. The hijackers did not harm either the passengers or the plane. They had declared at the time of surrender that the purpose in hijacking the plane was to register their protest against the sacrilegious burning of Sikh Holy Scriptures by Hindu policemen in Haryana.
The second hijack came in the wake of June 1984 Army attack on the Golden Temple, Amritsar. The nine member hijacking team of Sikh youth also did not harm: the passengers or the plane. Instead passengers were treated with courtesy. The motive in hijacking the Indian Airlines plane was once again to focus the attention of the people of the world upon the ruthless destruction of the Holiest of Sikh Shrines and cold blooded killing of thousands of innocent Sikh men, women and children who had come to Amritsar on pilgnmage on the occasion of Guru Agan Dev.’s martyrdom day prayers on June 3. 1984.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 2, 1990
