The 26 passengers of ‘Ganga’. an Indian Airliner coming to Delhi from Srinagar, did not know that their flight is going to be hijacked midair by two men armed with a pistol and a hand grenade on that fateful morning of 30th of January, 1971. After claiming the plane, the hijackers diverted it towards Lahore and after landing there, they put forward their demands that they be granted asylum in Pakistan, that the Government of India release thirty-six political prisoners belonging to the Kashmiri National Liberation Front and further, that, the families of the two hijackers should not be harmed by the Indian authorities.
These hijackers declared themselves Kashmiri freedom
fighters under the leadership of Maqbool Bhat. Later, they released all the
passengers and burnt down the plane.
Maqbool Bhat was escalating as sort of a hero among the
Kashmiris. He was involved in an ambush in which a CID officer was killed and
in that case, he had already been awarded death sentence by the Government. But
dramatically, he dug a tunnel in Srinagar prison and escaped to Pakistan.
Operating from Pakistan, Bhat orchestrated the hijack of Ganga. Pakistani
authorities kept him under arrest till 1974 and then he was released.
He sneaked into India afterwards…only to be arrested again.
The murder case added with the kidnapping case was reopened and Bhat was
awarded death sentence. Bhat applied for clemency. But his efforts for clemency
were marred by an incident which took place on February 3, 1984. An Indian
Diplomat named Ravindra Mhatre was kidnapped in Birmingham, UK. A ransom money
of 1 million dollars and release of Maqbool Bhat was demanded, and two days
later, he was killed. A baffled Indian Government rejected the clemency of Bhat
and he was hanged in the Tihar jail on 11th February..
Bhat’s claim for clemency was based on allegation of unfair
trial. In Pakistan, there was a conspiracy theory regarding the kidnapping of
Ganga. This theory stated that Ganga was kidnapped and destroyed by RAW agents
who wanted to malign the face of Pakistan and curb the rise of Maqbool Bhat.
The main argument in support of this theory was that Ganga was one of the
oldest aircrafts of India, which had
already been retired from active service. It was reintroduced only days
before the kidnapping. Destroying an already retired plane for massive future
gains was not a bad business for India.
These theories made Kashmiris believe that Bhat was tried
unfairly and was hanged in cold blood for a crime which he had not done. Bhat
morphed into a hero….he was declared a Shaheed and 11th February was
decided to be held as day of Shahaadat.
Meanwhile, another development of events was taking place in
Afghanistan. In 1979, the USSR moved into Afghanistan. Pakistan, supported by
America, engaged in training and motivating the Mujahidins using Islamic
propaganda…to liberate Afganistan and rescue their Muslim brothers. In 1989,
the USSR withdrew their troops . Now the Mujahideen were jobless. They had to
rescue someone…but there was none to rescue. Then Pakistan suggested them
Kashmir. And this was the start of militancy in Kashmir.
In 1987, Farooq Abdullah won the elections. But the
Separatist organizations claimed that these elections were rigged in favour of
Farooq. The tension in valley was soaring. The candidate of opposition,
Mohammad Yousuf Shah, was imprisioned. Feeling cheated, he later rose to
militancy and became the head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, assuming the name Syyed
Salahuddin.
The valley was in anger. On 13th February, militants
killed the Director of Srinagar Doordarshan because they thought that he was
relaying pro-India stuff. By the end of February, about 4,00,000 Kashmiris took
to streets demanding a plebiscite. On March 1, the number of protestors rose to
One million. 40 were killed in police firing. In fact whole valley was on fire.
It had started ...…the insurgency.
So what fuelled this insurgency so intensely? Was it the
demand of a separate nation….or was it the willingness to merge with Pakistan.
In fact, it was neither. The fuel of the agitation was religious fanaticism.
The highly motivated and heavily armed militants which infiltrated the valley
in late 80’s painted the struggle for separation in religious colours.
Suddenly, the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front no more the flagbearer of the
movement….the onus shifted to Muslim United Front. Slowly and very cleverly a
program for ethnic cleansing of Kashmir was executed. Kashmiri Pandits were
being targeted. They were being killed, raped and looted. Threatening pamphlets
asking them to leave the valley were being stuck on their doors. This led to an
exodus during which the 2,00,000 strong Kashmiri Pandit population left the
land of their forefathers to take shelter in mainland India as refugees. Today,
only 8,000 of them remain in the valley, amid constant fear.
However, the Kashmiri leaders deny that they had any hands
in this ouster. They blame it to Pakistani militants. But let us look at what
Omar Abdullah, the CM of J&K has got to say on this issue.
"It's so easy to
say that we will lay down our lives to bring Kashmiri Pandits back to the
Valley and I appreciate the sentiment as I am sure the Kashmiri Pandits reading
it will. Pity that sentiment was missing when our mosques were being used to
drive these people out."
"None of us was
willing to stand up and be counted when it mattered. None of us grabbed the
mikes (microphones) in the mosques and said 'this is wrong and the Kashmiri
Pandits had every right to continue living in the valley."
"Our
educated, well-to-do relatives and neighbours were spewing venom 24-hours a day
and we were mute spectators either mute in agreement or mute in abject fear but
mute nonetheless."
"And
talking about mosques -- what a great symbol of mass uprising they proved
to be. While I can't claim to have lived through it I have enough friends who
did and they tell me about the early 90's where attendance was taken in mosques
to force people to pray."
(From Omar Abdullah’s official blog)
Now in Indian Army, more than 95% of them are Hindus. When
they cracked the whip down, they did not think twice about the ethics taught to
them in the Military Academies. The road to the valley ran through the refugee
camps of the Pandits who had lost their every asset….be it money, be it dignity
or be it soul. Vengeance was in the air…..
More next time…
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