On 30th January 1971 , two Kashmiri men hijacked an Indian Airlines plane , Ganga, from Srinagar airport. They forced the pilot to land in Lahore, Pakistan. The two men, reportedly members of the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Liberation Front (JKDLF) , were hailed as ‘heroes’ by many in Pakistan.The two men- Hashim Qureshi and his relative, Ashraf Qureshi- demanded release of 36 members belonging to a terrorist organisation named Al- Fatah, who were in the custody of the Indian Government, in exchange for the freedom of 26 passengers on the plane.
Qureshi met Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the opposition leader and Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party. After their meeting, the aeroplane was blown up. New channels in India widely covered the news, and the world believed that Pakistan had orchestrated the plan to hijack the aeroplane. Bhutto had made no comments either, and his silence further fuelled the suspicion. India banned all Pakistani aircrafts from flying over Indian airspace in 1971.The entire situation proved to be convenient as it blocked General Yahya Khan, from sending theirs soldiers over to East Pakistan, which was on the verge of a civil war.
The Chief of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) ,R.N. Kao, was satisfied with the operation. Hashim Qureshi was a rogue agent of R&AW who assigned to infiltrate JKLF, a Pakistan-sponsored terror organisation that launched militant attacks in the name of Liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from India. Qureshi was trained by ISI operatives to hijack a plane. However , in mid-January 1971, he was arrested by the Border Security Force (BSF) while crossing the border with arms.Upon interrogation, Qureshi disclosed the plan of hijacking the plane and was asked to demand the release of 36 Al-Fatah members and not give up control of the aeroplane until they secured a meeting with Bhutto. Kao had also instructed to blow the aircraft up after meeting to make the act look legitimate.
Qureshi was sent to a safe house in Banglore to ensure complete security of the plan. On 30 January, Qureshi and his relative his relative hijacked the plane with nothing but a toy pistol and a grenade. The hijacking was broadcast to the entire world, and Pakistan had planned the whole ordeal as an act of terrorism.When Qureshi and Bhutto met, the passengers were released before the aeroplane was blown up.All the passengers and crew members were returned to India by road.However, it was later found that it was not Qureshi who had blown the aeroplane but the ISI operatives.While Qureshi was given political asylum initially, it was soon realised that the two Qureshi did not belong to Kasmir’s freedom movement.
As inquiry commission was appointed for the case. However, by then, the world had already perceived Pakistan as the culprit, and India had disconnected the direct air routes from west to east Pakistan. The motive behind all these conspiracies orchestrated by India was that Yahya Khan was planning to suppress the political movement of Mujib in East Pakistan by sending armed troops by air. Due to diplomatic reasons, India could not have directly stopped the flights from Pakistan over Indian airspace;the plan provided a ripe opportunity.
United States government secretly supplied air transport via Srilanka and the Himalayan range after this incident. However, the hijack proved successful as it delayed the arrival of the Pakistan army in the east.
