All You Want To Know About The 1999 Hijack.
Anubhav Sinha's IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack Netflix series, based on the December 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft, has provoked considerable controversy.
As the incident unfolded in Taliban controlled Afghanistan carried out by Pakistani terrorists, the hijack gripped the nation.
Young people may not be aware of that terrifying week in India's history where the nation shared the agony of the hostages and the ecstasy of their release after a week in captivity.
Rediff.com was at the forefront of the IC-814 coverage.
It was the finalist in the Breaking News category in the international Online Journalism Awards 2000 for its coverage -- the only non-US, non-European site to be included in this prestigious contest.
Between December 24 and 31,1999, when five terrorists took over the Kathmandu-Delhi flight with 176 passengers and crew on board, journalists in the Rediff newsrooms in Delhi and Mumbai posted a wide range of stories.
Young reporters and seasoned journalists alike worked day and night speaking to relatives of the hostages, aviation experts, bureaucrats, diplomats, national security top brass, politicians, sources in Afghanistan etc.
They followed the events as the flight landed in Amritsar, Lahore, Dubai and finally Kandahar where it stayed for a week, surrounded by gun-totting Taliban.
The aircraft finally landed in New Delhi on December 31 after the release of three dreaded terrorists imprisoned in Kashmir.
The hijack of IC-814 gripped the nation. It is the longest ever hijack in aviation history.
As we look back on our coverage, we remember with sadness senior reporters of that crisis -- Onkar Singh and Tara Shankar Sahay -- who are no more.
We doff a hat to Suparn Varma who was a rookie reporter at that time and went on to write the story-screenplay of Zameen [2003] inspired by the IC-814 hijack.
Presenting Rediff.com's detailed coverage from that week that shook the nation.
