AMRITSAR: A Kashmiri Muslim hijacker, Mohammed Yusuf Shah, who hijacked an Indian airlines plane early this week with 135 passengers on board was killed in police custody after he was overpowered by National Security Guards commandos, according to reports.

The Indian security officials claimed that Shah died during a scuffle with commandos who stormed the plane after 11 hours of tense drama at the local Rajasansi airport.

However, passengers had a different story to tell. They witnessed the hijacker being overpowered and led away from the plane by Indian security forces. He was caught by the scruff of his neck. “The hijacker was being kicked and pushed out of the front door of the plane,” a passenger said. Most other passengers said they never heard any gunshot from the cockpit. Besides, a report emanating from Delhi on April 24 spoke of the security forces interrogating the hijacker.

Punjab police chief K.P.S.Gill who is acting as India’s executioner was in constant touch not only with the hijacker on radiophone but also with the central Indian cabinet secretary. The latter evidently signaled Gill to kill the hijacker and Gill ordered his juniors to shoot the Kashmiri Muslim in custody.

In India 13 aircraft were hijacked since 1971 and the treatment meted out to hijackers by the authorities provides & significant inkling of the nature of the Indian state. In 1981 Sikh militants had hijacked a plane to Lahore to press such demands as release of Sant Bhindranwale and other Sikhs detained by India but all five hijackers have been in Dakhpat Rai jail in that country without trail. In 1982 a Sikh hijacked a plane on a flight from Jodhpur and the plane landed at Amritsar where the hijacker was shot dead by Indian security forces. On January 22,1993, a 22yearold Hindu youth, Chander Pandey, hijacked a Patna Delhi plane seeking construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and lifting of the ban orders on certain Hindu fundamentalist organizations. He was arrested and was not harmed. On March 27,1993, another Hindu youth, Hani Singh, who hijacked a plane which landed at Amritsar who also not harmed. On April 10, a few Hindu youths hijacked a planet Luck now. They were also not killed and have since been in detention.

It is thus evident that when Sikhs and Muslims hijacked a plane as a mark of their protest against certain actions of the Indian state or for seeking the release of their associates, they were either shot dead or were given stringent punishment. But when Hindu youths do the same thing to press their demands, they go practically scot free, In fact, two youth Congress workers, the Pandey brothers, were rewarded by making them ministers in the U.P. government. The orders to kill the Muslim or Sikh youths for hijacking planes invariably come directly from the Indian prime minister’s mysterious “house.”

State Director General of Police KP.S.Gill dismissed the request by journalists wanting to see the body by saying:”Jo mar gaya, woh mar gaya” (one who is dead, is dead). This further lent credence to the version that the hijacker was taken alive.

Yusuf had told Gill “I am on a mission, but I will disclose this only after the plane become air borne for Kabul.” Gill found Yusuf a hard nut to crack during their nearly three-hour conversation on the radio transmitter. The police chief’s estimation that the hijacker would not be able to harm the passengers and a “go ahead” from the Union Cabinet Secretary around 11 pm made Gill ask the NSG to take over,

The hijacker’s mission, was to seek the release of a detained Hizbul Mujahideen leader Dr. Mussa and his safe passage to Kabul in exchange for the release of his hostages,

Yusuf was identified by a CRPF officer attached with Gill, who had once interrogated him in Kashmir. The officer, A.K.Pandey disclosed Yusuf used to operate in the Badgam and Baramullah districts of north Kashmir and was a close associate of a former Chief Commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen Ashan Dar.

Meanwhile, doubts about the genuineness of the hijacking have been raised following reports that 70 passengers were booked on the flight by one single agent and that they did not have any accompanying baggage. Furthermore, reports also say there were about 30 intelligence Bureau Officers on the flight. Gill, however, has described this as baseless, “There were no IB officials on the plane” he categorically stated, Traumatized by the horrifying experiences, most passengers accused the Delhi airport authorities of serious security lapses. GN Siraz said “this man had plaster on his legs and was walking with the Support of crutches at the Delhi airport. But suddenly in the aircraft he got rid of the crutches and bandages and ran to the cockpit brandishing his weapons. I was terrified and thought the man would blow up the plane.”

Mohammad Sultan Bhatt said the man was speaking Kashmiri and Urdu. “All I did was pray and cry alternately till the commandos came and announced that the man had been overpowered,” he said. The shot fired by the hijacker forced most people to sit quietly in their seats, he feels.

Prem Kumar Chadha, a deputy flight person said he was taking the last tray of water after serving food when the hijacker jumped Out of his seat in the first row and jostled his way to the cockpit, his revolver in his hand.

An airhostess on this flight said “the crew is well trained for meeting such eventualities. We had kept all the doors of the aircraft open. This allowed the commandos to barge in and overpower the hijacker.”

She however added “We have been trained to keep our cool, but I was sweating and could feel my legs trembling, though I didn’t let anyone make that out, if the crew gets nervous, the passengers would become hysterical.”

This was the fourth plane to be hijacked this year and the second this month.

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 30, 1993