The hijacked flight, IC 814’s trauma was relived with Anubhav Sinha’s web series, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, featuring Vijay Varma in the lead. The web series tries to describe the pain of the passengers and hijackers’ motive behind the horrific seven days of terror. For the unversed, on December 24,1999, an Indian Airlines flight, IC 814, en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu Neptal to New Delhi with 176 passengers, was hijacked by Pakistani terrorists.
A passenger revealed the horror they felt when the terrorists yelled that their flight was ‘hijacked’
The ’90s was a simple time when phones were not easily available, and information was still taken from newspapers and television news. At that time, the IC 814 hijack left every Indian in shock, but the passengers who were on board were not able to cope with the sudden trauma. In an interview with India Today, a passenger, Pooja Kataria, who was returning from her honeymoon with her husband, revealed that they were not able to understand what happened.
Pooja stated that at that time ‘hijack’ wasn’t a very popular term. Initially, they believed that they would ask for some ransom and would let them go. However, they never thought that the orderal would last up to seven days. Recalling the moment, Pooja said:
“We did not really understand at the time what was happening. The term ‘hijack’ wasn’t very popular back in 1999. We thought they would ask for some ransom and get it over with. Little did we know that the ordeal would last seven days. The hijackers also thought that it would end in two days because they asked the stewardess if there was enough water to last for two days.”
Pooja shared she received a shawl as a gift with a sign of the terrorist with code name ‘Burger’
Further in the interview, Pooja also revealed that she had kept some of the items as a memorabilia from the hijacked flight. One of them was a shawl autographed by Burger, which was given to her by one of the terroirst, Burger. The hijacked had even signed one end of the shawl and it could be read as:
“To my dearest sister and her handsome husband, Burger – 30/12/99″
Image Courtesy
Pooja also revealed that one of the hijackers, named Doctor, asked the passengers to convert by giving a hateful speech towards their religion. She was quoted as saying:
“He (Doctor) used to say Islam is a better religion, much better than Hinduism. He gave at least three such speeches and the people did get convinced. But on the 30th (December 30, 1999), the hijackers told us that ‘we will have to start killing you now, your government is not doing anything (for your release).”
When Pooja Kataria revealed the hijacker gave her a shawl as a birthday gift
In an 2000 interview with the Hindu, Pooja revealed that her birthday was on Decemebr 28, 2024, and she had celebrated on the flight. A hijacker gave her a gift of a shawl with a note. She also called him her ‘brother’.
What do you think about a terrorist giving a shawl as a gift?
Next Read: ‘IC 814’ Rupin Katyal And Wife Extended Honeymoon By Two Days Due To Ticket Issue, Was It Destiny?
