There was a lot of controversy recently over Anubhav Sinha’s Netflix series ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’. The public alleged that the show distorted real events and downplayed the gravity of the incident on screen.
When the matter became serious, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India held a meeting with the content head of Netflix India, after which the disclaimer of the show was changed. After this change, ‘IC 814’ is streaming on Netflix and people have become more interested in knowing about the real incident on which this show is based.
During the Kandahar hijacking in December 1999, the Indian team that went to negotiate with the terrorists was led by Ajit Doval, who is now the National Security Advisor. Former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief A.S. Dulat has said that Doval was not happy with the way the negotiations were done in Kandahar. Manoj Pahwa’s character in the show ‘IC 814’ is based on him. Dulat said that Doval regretted the way things happened, but the entire crisis management group had accepted the fact that they would have to accept some of the demands of the hijackers.
Doval regretted releasing Masood Azhar
In an interview with journalist Barkha Dutt, Dulat recalled his meeting with the group that returned from the Kandahar negotiations, saying, ‘He (Doval) regretted it because he was a disciple of Advani (BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani). Their thinking was similar. Whatever Advani ji felt, Ajit must have felt it too…’
When Dulat was asked whether Advani, who was the Home Minister at that time, was against releasing three terrorists including dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar? He said, ‘Yes, but then you are badly stuck. What will you do? You have a duty to perform, and you do it. Whatever work Ajit does, he is a true professional. Mentally he must have thought – ‘What is happening, why is this happening?’
Recalling Doval’s updates from Kandahar, Dulat said that the most important call came on December 30, six days after the hijacking. Dulat said, ‘These people (negotiation team) were very badly stuck in Kandahar, I was sympathizing with them. These were our four best men – Ajit, Nehchal Sandhu from IB, and CD Sahay and Anand Arni from RAW… I could understand that this task was not going to be easy. It was difficult, because we had no relations with the Taliban and our relations with Pakistan were probably at their worst.’
Ajit Doval’s worrying call
Dulat told about Doval’s phone call on December 30, ‘(He believed) that the negotiators themselves are not safe, and the matter is getting out of their hands. The most important thing was to reduce the demands. We knew that there would be many demands, it was known from day one that the main demand would be to release Masood Azhar.’
Dulat says that the list of terrorists sent by the hijackers was reduced from 105 to 3, and when this happened, an important cabinet meeting was going on regarding security. Doval probably came to know in Kandahar that this meeting was going on. He called and said- ‘Please resolve, do it quickly, because we do not know what will happen here. The Taliban is saying that either we resolve this issue or leave from here.’
Dulat said that the tension was evident from these calls, but this issue was not raised during the cabinet meeting. By then the government had mentally decided that this matter should be settled. The hostages were released as soon as the 3 terrorists were released from Indian jails. But one man – Rupin Katyal was killed by the hijackers. Even though there has been a controversy over ‘IC 814’, it has received a lot of positive reviews.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)