External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar recently shared a personal connection to the 1984 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight, revealing that his father, the esteemed strategic affairs expert K. Subrahmanyam, was aboard the hijacked plane. At the time, Jaishankar was a young officer on the team managing the crisis, giving him a rare perspective from both sides of the situation—those in government and the affected families.
Jaishankar made these revelations at an Indian community event in Geneva while addressing questions about Netflix’s new series on the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC814. He noted that while he hasn’t watched the series, which he described as casting the government and bureaucracy in a negative light, he has his own unique experience with hijacking crises.
Reflecting on the 1984 incident, Jaishankar recounted how he was involved in handling the hijacking of a flight from Pathankot to Dubai by pro-Khalistan militants. During this time, he called his mother to explain he couldn’t come home, only to later discover that his father was on the hijacked flight. The ordeal lasted over 36 hours before the hijackers released all passengers and crew unharmed.
“It was intriguing because, on one hand, I was involved with the team working on the hijacking, and on the other, I was with the family members urging the government to take action. This gave me a unique perspective on both sides of the issue,” Jaishankar said.
He acknowledged the dramatic liberties often taken in portrayals of such events, noting that movies typically highlight the hero rather than the complexities of government responses.