Chinks in crisis management
From Hari Jaisingh

NEW DELHI, Dec 25 — The hijacking of the IA Kathmandu-New Delhi flight has once again exposed the vulnerability of India’s system of intelligence (external and internal), security, crisis management and responsive communication. For a country which has borne the brunt of as many as 12 hijackings, the latest episode is a poor commentary on its house-keeping.

The fact that the “entry point” for five armed hijackers was a foreign airport hardly absolves the Indian authorities of their responsibility towards the passengers travelling by the national carrier.

True, the security system at the Tribhuvan International Airport at Kathmandu is lax. It is below world standards. This fact has been known to New Delhi.

(Interestingly, the Pakistan International Airlines at one point of time used to frisk the passengers boarding the aircraft in Delhi after being cleared by Indian security. Could we have taken the cue from the PIA example?)

South Block is also well aware of the fact that Nepal is a major centre of various militant outfits along with Pakistan’s ISI. That India has taken up this matter with the Nepalese government from time to time is an open secret.

“Ours is an open society where the biggest advantage group is information-hungry citizens”, a professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University told me. He regretted that the authorities were invariably secretive and did not care to share information with the people.

From all accounts, the hijacking was a well-planned and well-coordinated operation. The militants must have been on the job for quite some time. From this, the first question arises: how effective is our intelligence? RAW is supposed to take care of external intelligence. The people have the right to information. They would like to be reassured about the efficacy of the existing intelligence network.

The second crucial point that needs a close look is crisis management on the ground. A number of questions are raised in this context: under what circumstances the plane was allowed to fly out of our hands at Amritsar? How prompt and effective was the ground response from the Punjab government, especially at the senior police level? A K.P.S. Gill would not have probably allowed the hijackers to get away unchallenged from our soil.

“We had better striking chances while the plane was at Amritsar for refuelling. All that was required was the presence of a crisis management expert and the requisite guts to engage the hijackers in negotiations. We exhibit both apathy and callousness in such situation”, a top-ranking Haryana-cadre police officer, now based in New Delhi, told me.

The third question relates to the Crisis Management Group here. How prompt have been its responses? Mercifully, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee cancelled his 75th birthday bash. We know what such celebrations are like. Full marks to Mr Vajpayee, though the persons around him could possibly benefit from Indira Gandhi’s response system when she was faced with the hijacking drama in 1984. A comparative study can be educative.

The fourth crucial facet of the current crisis is communication and information flow. When shall we learn to be communicative to the citizens in distress? We shall have to ask relatives of the ill-fated IA passengers to find out how the persons at the helm add to their agony!

The Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Sharad Yadav’s Dubai trip to bring back the released women and children is a poor substitute to the absence of human response in the operational system prevailing in public offices.

Blunder committed in Amritsar: Gill
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 25 — Former Punjab Police chief, Mr K.P.S. Gill today said that the Indian authorities committed a “great blunder” in allowing the hijacked IA plane fly away from Amritsar.

In an interview with TNS, Mr Gill, complimented the pilot of the aircraft for bringing it home after it was hijacked from foreign soil.

“I think we have committed a great blunder in allowing the plane to leave Amritsar and have let down the pilot” he said.

Mr Gill, who successfully conducted negotiations at Amritsar during 1993 on two successive occasions when Indian Airlines aircraft were hijacked, felt that India has now lost the leverage.

“We have no options now. We are depending on other people’s interaction with the hijackers’’ he said adding that he feared that the group holding the passengers and the plane as hostage would become ruthless in pursuance of their object of securing release of some militants.

He said greater the number of hijackers, the difficult it was and suspected that considering that a big plane had just 150-odd passengers as hostages, all could be cordoned in one place.

It is possible that at least two to three hijackers may be resting and taking turns to keep watch.

Mr Gill said the unfortunate incident in Amritsar of killing of passenger and subsequent release of a group of 27 passengers at Dubai indicated that there was dissension among the hijackers.

“It is obvious that there is internal tension which came to the fore when the plane landed in Dubai. It led to the release of 27 passengers and the body of the person who was killed”.

In his opinion the hijackers must have felt the tension of sitting on the Indian soil and the fear of action could have been the reason to act the way they did.

Asked if the history of action by Indian security forces in 1993 could have been at the back of the mind of the hijackers this time, Mr Gill said in all probability that could have added to the tension

On the release of a group of passengers, Mr Gill said that fact that the hijackers were sitting in aircraft with little access to outside world or information leads to a situation when the hijackers swing between moods of aggression to regret.

He said it was this period of uncertainty which would keep on lengthening and could prove crucial. Mr Gill did not sound optimistic of any early solution stating “we are in a difficult situation and the Afghanistan authorities may not be interested in resolving the crisis through negotiations”.

Mr Gill was the Director-General of Punjab Police when on March 27, 1993 an Indian Airlines Delhi-Hyderabad flight was hijacked by Hari Singh and diverted to Amritsar. The hijacker subsequently surrendered.

Nearly a month later, on April 24, a Kashmiri militant hijacked the Delhi-Srinagar flight and diverted the aircraft at Amritsar. Mr Gill was made in charge of operations and the NSG rescued the hostages without loss of life and the hijacker was shot dead.