Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has drawn a connection between the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Syed, daughter of former Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and the 1999 IC-814 hijacking. He contends that the government’s decision to negotiate with terrorists in the Rubaiya Syed case created a precedent that influenced the negotiations during the IC-814 hijacking.
Abdullah stated that the hijackers used the Rubaiya Syed incident as a benchmark, arguing that if the government could release terrorists for a home minister’s daughter, they too deserved to be released. He argued that the government’s actions in the Rubaiya Syed case set a dangerous precedent, ultimately forcing them to negotiate with terrorists again in the IC-814 incident.
The 1989 Rubaiya Syed kidnapping involved Kashmiri separatists who held her captive for several weeks. The VP Singh-led Central Government ultimately released five jailed terrorists of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in exchange for her safe release.
Abdullah pointed out that the government had the option of avoiding negotiation with terrorists in the Rubaiya Syed case. However, by engaging in negotiations, they were compelled to repeat the same approach when the IC-814 aircraft was hijacked in 1999. This incident resulted in the release of three terrorists in exchange for the safe release of the passengers.
The IC-814 hijacking incident has recently been brought back into the public discourse due to the impending release of a Netflix series titled ‘IC-814: The Kandahar hijack.’ The series has sparked controversy due to its depiction of the hijackers’ code names, leading to an updated disclaimer from Netflix and a summons from the Central Government for the platform’s content head. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on the series for not revealing the true identities of the hijackers was withdrawn from the Delhi High Court on Friday.
