Vijay Varma starrer IC184 The Kandahar Hijack is the re-telling of the infamous incident in India’s defence history. It has piqued the nation’s interest and the Indian officials involved in the negotiations are recalling the ordeal. In a recent chat, the chief of the R&AW at the time, AS Dulat, spoke about the ‘ghost passenger’ whose identity was kept a secret. The show also depicted how there was one high-profile passenger on the plane and if the terrorists had known their identity, they would have an upper hand.
In an interview with Barkha Dutt, Dulat revealed that this passenger was Shashi Bhushan Singh Tomar, then the R&AW station chief in Kathmandu. He was reportedly seated on 16C. Dulat said that Tomar had two brothers-in-law in high offices, one was NK Singh from the PMO and the other was the head of the NSG.
When asked if the high-profile man’s presence on the plane was why the commandos weren’t deployed in Amritsar, Dulat said, “NK Singh, we were both in the PMO, was certainly concerned. But that concern was only exhibited to me. He would ask me now and then, what was happening. I understood why he was worried; it was his sister’s husband. But at that point in time, let me tell you, when the plane was in Amritsar, nobody in the government knew that there was an R&AW officer on board that flight. I knew, but nobody else did. I didn’t tell anybody. There was no need to tell anybody, there was no need to advertise it.”
He continued, “Gradually, it became known. NK’s stress and tension… It became known. But it was known to very few people. We didn’t want to advertise it. The ISI and Taliban didn’t know at all, otherwise that poor fellow might have been beheaded. Nobody knew. Till Tomar came back to Delhi, nobody knew. And that is the reason we never spoke about it and never advertised it. His life would’ve been in jeopardy… He would’ve been blindfolded, a knife kept to his neck, and they would’ve said, ‘Now talk’.”
Dulat mentioned that the Indian negotiators were also not aware of Tomar’s identity. Dulat recalled his meeting with Tomar after he came to Delhi. He told Tomar, “Sorry for whatever’s happened. How are you?” Tomar told Dulat, “I just sat quietly, and I didn’t look those guys in the eye at all.”
“Poor Tomar is being blamed for having intelligence and not taking action. Now, if he knew that a hijack was imminent, would he have been on that plane?” Dulat asked and added that the show is wrong in depicting that a junior officer had warned the government about the hijack. “No, there was no such information. This is all hogwash, as far as I am concerned. I’ve seen (the show), and that person goes around bashing up Nepalese. We don’t do these things, nor was any Nepalese bashed up,” he said.
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