IC 814: When India’s National Security Management Failed Completely

A still from 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack', which has pushed the hijacking into daily news. The Wire

The critical failure of response to the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 occurred at the Raja Sansi Airport in Amritsar. Of course, the eventual and humiliating dénouement at Kandahar can also be faulted on a number of grounds, the most obvious being the manifest loss of nerve on the part of the government’s negotiators. However, little is still publicly known about the actual circumstances, negotiations and transactions at Kandahar, and it would, perhaps, be both unfair and unwise to judge the government’s crisis responses on the basis of the fitful and often inaccurate information that is currently available. The debacle at Amritsar, however, is an entirely different kettle of fish, and although government sources have sought to project the “decision” to allow the hijacked plane to leave Raja Sansi Airport as a reasoned option – the best of a bad bargain that could easily have ended in a bloodbath for the hostages – this is far from the case. I had, at the time of the hijack crisis, repeatedly described the events at Amritsar as an unforgivable blunder that divested us of all effective options, and I have seen no evidence till date to force a revision of this opinion.

The fact is, the failures at Amritsar – and a majority of these emanated from New Delhi – were entirely avoidable and exemplify in extraordinary measure the institutional collapse that encounters each sudden or unforeseen crisis of internal security (indeed, perhaps, of governance at large) in India. In the absence of a credible or detailed public disclosure by the government, consequently, it is useful to trace out the sequence of events, on that fateful Christmas Eve, as we know them.

4:52 pm: Delhi Air Traffic Control (ATC) receives a message from ATC Varanasi that the Airbus-300 plying on the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 has been hijacked.

4:56 pm: Confirmation is received when the pilot flashes the hijack code to the Delhi ATC. At this point of time radar information placed the plane over Lucknow. The Captain, D. Sharan, then makes radio contact and informs ATC that the hijackers are armed and their destination is Lahore. The information is communicated to the Crisis Management Group (CMG) comprising senior officials including the Cabinet Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Civil Aviation Secretary. Reports suggest that there was some delay in informing the CMG because telephone numbers had not been updated at the Delhi airport. The officials were also apparently unclear about what to do once they were contacted.

What the CMG actually did for the next hour is uncertain and crucial to any analysis of the response. The Prime Minster who was flying back from Patna to Delhi was informed only at 5:20 p.m., after he landed. He reached his residence at 5:35 p.m. and summoned a meeting of his Cabinet colleagues. The CMG had still not assembled – its meeting reportedly convened shortly before 6:00 p.m. An hour had already been wasted without any action taken by the Government or any of its agencies.

5:40 pm: the plane approaches Delhi. Reports indicate that though the pilot had said that he was heading for Lahore, he was already trying to ensure that he landed at Amritsar. He brought the Airbus’ speed down to 360-390 knots, well below the normal speed of around 460 knots. There is a certain point on the flight plan, point Ansari, where a pilot has to commit himself to heading either for Lahore or Amritsar. A Lahore bound flight veers left while the Amritsar bound flight must head right. The pilot, it was evident at this point, was trying to delay this decision.

A still from ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’. The Wire

A crucial fact in this context is that, from the time it was hijacked barely 20 minutes into the flight, till it landed in Amritsar, the plane was tracked closely on radar, its speed was known and a fair estimation of the amount of fuel remaining at the time it landed in Amritsar should have been available to the CMG, and should have been communicated to the authorities at Amritsar. The apparent failure to make these basic calculations available to decision makers at various levels had a crucial bearing on the subsequent response of the authorities.

6:15 pm: The plane reaches point Ansari and the pilot chooses to turn towards Amritsar.

6:18 pm: ATC Amritsar is first contacted by the pilot, “We are in contact with Opla (Lahore). Opla is not allowing us to land and we have only 40 minutes fuel. They are insisting us to go to Opla (sic) and they are not allowing us to land in Indian soil.”

6:26 pm: Pilot informs ATC again, “We have fuel only for half-an-hour. Please coordinate with Opla. Please get us permission to land at Opla. They are very silly and they will kill us one by one.”

6:31 pm: Pilot says that they have selected ten people to kill.

6:32 pm: Pilot says, “There is only 15 minutes of fuel left over. With this we can remain 15 minutes in the air. After that we don’t have fuel. Make sure we land in Opla as they want to land in Opla and otherwise not anywhere in India.”

Clearly, the pilot was doing all he could to make sure the plane landed at Amritsar. He had made a choice that the ATC could interpret by observing the radar, even as he played along with the hijackers. From the transcript it is clear that more attention should have been paid to the accuracy of the information he was giving to decipher any subtext or signals he was sending, particularly with regard to the fuel remaining in the plane. Certainly, it should have been clear that what the pilot was mouthing was not to be taken at face value.

Specifically, at 6:18 pm, he said he had 40 minutes of fuel left, at 6:31 pm he claimed to have only 15 minutes of fuel left. In 13 minutes he had supposedly lost 25 minutes of fuel. The plane finally landed at 7:01 pm, half-an-hour after the pilot said he had only 15 minutes of fuel left. It should have been clear that his words were not reflecting, and were not intended to reflect, the true picture regarding the amount of fuel in the plane.

6:35 pm: The aircraft is now hovering over the Raja Sansi Airport, Amritsar, a full one hour and forty three minutes after the first report of the hijack was received by ATC Delhi. But even now, no clear response systems have been activated. It bears mentioning, here, that Amritsar had been the final or transitional destination of a majority of the twelve Indian commercial aircraft hijacked in the past, and should have been the most obvious and probable destination in the present case. While all airports within the flight capabilities of the hijacked aircraft should have been alerted for possible landing and response, Amritsar should have been in a state of high alert, with a clear Emergency Command and Communications system in place. As will be evident from the sequence of events below, this was far from the case.

By this time, the Prime Minister’s personal secretary Brajesh Mishra had finally joined the deliberations of the CMG at Delhi. Throughout this period, and the next hour or so, it is unclear what the PM and the Cabinet were doing.

7:01 pm: The plane landed and contact was established on the ground with the pilot. At this point the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), the district’s Deputy Commissioner (DC), officials from the Border Security Force (BSF) as well as Inspector General of Police J.P. Birdi had reached the control tower. Airport Director V.S. Mulekar and senior aerodrome officer, Tarlok Singh, were already present there and Mulekar was the man who subsequently handled most of the communications with the aircraft. Two hours and nine minutes had passed since the authorities in Delhi were first informed of the hijacking. Clear indications had also been available for 45 minutes that the pilot was aiming to land the plane at Amritsar.

The plane landed on Tarmac 34 and came to a halt mid-way on the runway. The area is not well lit and is very far from the floodlit apron area of the airport. Visibility from the cockpit, officials confirm, would have been no more than 150 metres at best. The pilot conveyed the demand that the plane should be refuelled immediately, else the hijackers would start killing passengers. He also sent a coded message informing ATC that there were 5 hijackers on board. A message was also sent to Delhi asking for instructions. Reporters spotted Tarlok Singh outside the airport building, making preparations for refuelling.

To answer the question regarding what went wrong at Amritsar, we must begin with an inquiry on who was in charge. The State Crisis Management Committee (CMC), which included DGP Sarabjit Singh and IGP (Intelligence) M.P.S. Aulakh, was communicating with IG Commandos, J.P. Birdi who, in the absence of the zonal IG was asked to take charge. The Deputy Commissioner, is in the normal course of such a crisis, the man responsible for dealing with and authorising any action. He seems to have played virtually no role from here on. In addition to the SSP, the DIG Amritsar was also present.

7:05 pm: A man claiming to be G.Lal from the “Home Department” called up and asked about the situation at Amritsar. This man called once again with the same question. Who this person was is still to be established. However, contrary to some newspaper reports, airport officials confirm that he gave no instructions regarding how the officials at the spot should tackle the problem.

7:10 pm: The first contact between Amritsar and Delhi takes place, when the Cabinet Secretary calls up and speaks to the SSP. No specific instructions are issued, but the SSP is told to delay refuelling and ensure the plane does not take-off without the CMG’s instructions. A short while later, Brajesh Mishra also speaks to the DIG and tells him that an all out efforts should be made to prevent the aircraft from taking-off.

At this point, however, it is already clear that no one person was in charge at the ATC, Amritsar. The Cabinet Secretary was instructing the SSP, the PM’s Principal Secretary was speaking to the DIG, the State DGP to the IG. The man actually talking to the pilots was the Airport Director V.S. Mulekar.