New Delhi: How Ibrahim Shahid and Shakir Became Bhola Shankar and Burger  : The web series 'IC814: The Kandahar Hijack', released on Netflix on August 29, is being strongly opposed on social media. Boycott is being demanded over the names of terrorists in the web series - Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar. Many people including saints have objected to the names Shankar and Bhola. As the uproar increased, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has sent a summon to the Netflix content head and called him for questioning.

After all, what is the story of one plane, the lives of more than 178 passengers, five hijackers and the journey of five countries, then the release of three terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar and the entire story of eight days, on which filmmaker Anubhav Sinha has made a web series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack? What is the truth behind the names of the terrorists in the series? Read the entire story here...

When was flight IC814 hijacked?

The incident is about 25 years old. On December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC814 took off from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, for Delhi at 4:30 pm. There were 178 passengers on board the plane. As soon as the plane entered Indian airspace at 5 pm, five armed terrorists sprung into action. The plane was hijacked.

Where did the plane go after the hijacking?

The terrorists forced the plane to be taken to Pakistan, but Pakistan did not allow it to land. The flight did not have enough fuel to fly long distances.

A scene from the Kandahar series. 

So the plane was landed at Amritsar airport at 6 pm. It stopped for 25 minutes but due to some problems, fuel could not be filled. The angry terrorists slit the throat of a passenger Rupin Katyal and again headed towards Lahore.

The plane was refuelled in Lahore 

At that time there was no dialogue between India and Pakistan. The Kargil war had just ended. The plane landed in Lahore at 8:07 pm. After refueling there, it took off for Kabul, but due to lack of proper lighting arrangements at night in Kabul and Kandahar, the plane could not land.

Release of women and children in exchange for refueling in Dubai

After this the plane left for Dubai. The plane was landed at Dubai's Al-Minhat Air Force Base. There an agreement was made to release the women and children in exchange for refueling. The hijackers released 25 passengers and also handed over the body of Rupin Katyal to the UAE authorities.

After this, on the morning of 25 December 1999, the plane took off from Dubai to Afghanistan and landed in Kandahar. At that time, Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban.

Negotiations with the hijackers lasted for seven days

A team of Indian officials reached Kandahar to negotiate with the hijackers. At that time, there was a coalition government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the centre. The government's problems were increasing with each passing day. The media pressure and the uproar of the relatives of the hostage passengers continued.

Meanwhile, in exchange for releasing the passengers, the hijackers demanded the release of 35 terrorists including Masood Azhar, who was lodged in an Indian jail, the body of a terrorist killed in Kashmir and US $200 million.

Well, after a long negotiation, in exchange for releasing the 153 passengers, the hijackers had put forward the condition of release of three terrorists including Maulana Masood Azhar.

To bring back all the passengers safely, India released terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh who were imprisoned in Indian jails by taking them to Kandahar in a special plane. The then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh also went to Kandahar with these terrorists.

What was the role of Taliban in the Kandahar hijack?

At that time, Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban, which had not received approval from any country. When India sought help from Afghanistan in the Kandahar hijack case, a passenger's health started deteriorating and the Taliban negotiated for treatment.

The hijackers had left the body of a terrorist killed in Kashmir and the demand of 200 million US dollars at the request of the Taliban. Apart from this, the Taliban also put pressure on the hijackers and the Indian authorities to reach a settlement as soon as possible.

Why did the Foreign Minister go to Kandahar?

When the matter of taking terrorists Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to Kandahar came up, the question arose as to who would go with them. During that time, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs Vivek Katju, Ajit Doval of Intelligence Bureau and CD Sahay of RAW, who were present in Kandahar, said that such a person should be sent who can take decisions when needed.

When the plane of the then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh landed at Kandahar airport, not a single Talibani came to meet him for a long time.

Jaswant Singh mentioned this in his autobiography 'A Call to Honour: In Service of Emerging India' and wrote, "After a long time, when the voice of releasing the terrorists echoed on the walkie-talkie, Vivek Katju came near and asked - Sir, tell me, should we release these terrorists before releasing the passengers or not? I had no choice but to agree with him."

He further writes, "As soon as the three terrorists got down, the stairs of the plane were removed so that we could not get down. I saw that the three were warmly welcomed. People present below were shouting with joy. ISI people had brought the relatives of the three terrorists from Pakistan to Kandahar so that it could be confirmed that we have released the real people. When it was confirmed that these were real, then the stairs of the plane were reinstalled."

The crew and officers returned the next day

Then Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh and Indian officials returned with the passengers the same day, but AR Ghanshyam, who worked in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, was left behind in Kandahar to refuel the Indian plane and make arrangements to bring it back to Delhi. The 14-member Air India crew also remained in Kandahar.

'IC814: Why is there a fuss over the name in The Kandahar Hijack?

In the IC814: The Kandahar Hijack web series, the names of the terrorists who hijacked the plane and took it to Kandahar are shown as Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar. People are criticizing this on social media that the terrorists have been deliberately given Hindu names even though they were Muslims.

Now let me tell you what the truth is...

The Ministry of External Affairs had revealed the real names of the hijackers in a statement issued on January 6, 2000.  The Ministry of External Affairs also said in its statement that the five hijackers had code names to call each other in front of the passengers and to communicate with the Indian government.

real names of hijackers

1. Ibrahim Athar- Bahawalpur.
2. Shahid Akhtar Saeed, Gulshan Iqbal, Karachi.
3. Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Defence Area, Karachi.
4. Mistry Zahoor Ibrahim, Akhtar Colony, Karachi.
5. Shakir, Sukkur City.

The hijackers had code names

Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar etc. were the codenames of the terrorists, which they used to call each other during the hijack. This means that the names shown in the series have not been given by the filmmakers themselves and neither is the story fabricated.