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Paknews.com
Remembering the 1971 Ganga episode : THE NEWS
LAHORE: On 30 January 1971, an Indian airliner,
a Fokker Friendship (F27) named "Ganga" enroute from
Srinagar to Jammu, landed at Lahore airport after it was hijacked
by two young men who were armed with a hand grenade and a pistol.
Ganga carried twenty-six passengers and an aircrew of four
including the captain. After landing at Lahore airport, the two
hijackers demanded that they be granted asylum in Pakistan, that
the Government of India release thirty-six political prisoners
belonging to the Kashmiri National Liberation Front and further,
that, the families of the two hijackers should not be harmed by
the Indian authorities. Two days later all the passengers were
released by the Hijackers who returned to India by road via
Amritsar. New Delhi demanded immediate return of the
"Ganga" which had been parked in an isolated corner of
Lahore airport. Before a decision could be reached by Islamabad,
the hijackers managed to blow up the aircraft on February 2,
1971.
The destruction of the "Ganga" spawned an angry Indian
reaction. On February 3, through a protest note, New Delhi
accused the government of Pakistan of assisting the hijackers and
demanded compensation from Pakistan for the loss of the aircraft.
On February 4, New Delhi suspended the overflight of all
Pakistani aircraft, civil and military, over the territory of
India and demanded that Pakistan should hand the two hijackers
over to it for trial in India under Indian laws.
These Indian protestations were accompanied by violent public
demonstrations outside the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.
Led by Jana Singh and students, angry Indian protesters attacked
the Pakistan High Commission premises with stones and badly
damaged the building. Refusing to accept these Indian demands,
Islamabad linked the hijacking incident to the "repressive
measures taken by the Government of India in occupied
Kashmir" and regretted that "instead of employing
normal diplomatic procedures for resolving" the matter,
"the Government of India has used this incident to heighten
tension between the two countries." Islamabad expressed its
optimism that there was "no reason why this problem, like
other matters between our two countries, cannot be solved by
mutual discussion, in a spirit of understanding".
The question of overflights was referred to the Council of the
International Civil Aviation Organisation in April 1971. New
Delhi not only repeated its original conditions but also added
the demand that Pakistan "give adequate assurances regarding
the safety of flights in the future". The ban was not lifted
until after the December 1971 India-Pakistan War which resulted
Pakistan's dismemberment. During the height of the
"Ganga" hijacking episode, the Chief Minister of Jammu
and Kashmir, G.M. Sadiq made the startling revelation that the
whole incident was an Indian plot and that one of the two
hijackers was a RAW agent. G.M. Sadiq's claim that
"Ganga" hijacking was an Indian sponsored venture was
confirmed by Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah a week later and
also further corroborated by exhaustive investigations conducted
by a Pakistan Commission of Enquiry under Justice Noor Ul Arfin.
In May 1973, a Special Court in Lahore ruled that only one of the
two hijackers was knowingly working for the Indians. He was
sentenced to nineteen years rigorous imprisonment.
The consequences of the hijacking of the "Ganga" were
profound. For one, by denying Pakistan overflight rights, India
effectively severed the vital air corridor link between East and
West Pakistan - a condition which played a key role in the Indian
military victory against Pakistan during the December 1971 War.
Second, the "Ganga" episode allowed India to create
conditions of "war hysteria" against Pakistan which
Indira Gandhi skillfully exploited to mobilise domestic support
for "her" war against Pakistan later in the year.
Finally, the Ganga episode allowed India an opportunity to
"discredit" the Kashmiri freedom struggle as
Indian-sponsored hijackers were allowed to masquerade as
"freedom fighters".