The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 4th May 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

Valour and prestige — the world of special operations

Why in News?

On 24 December 1999, Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC 814) was hijacked by militants from the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The hostages taken as a result were only released after the Indian government  agreed to release the jailed terrorists as demanded by the militant group. This would lead to serious consequences in the years to come. 

Events during Hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814

• The flight was traveling from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on that day.
• There were 176 passengers and 15 crew members on the flight.
• The aeroplane was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 and it was piloted by Captain Devi Sharan. The chief flight attendant was Anil Sharma.
• At about 5:30 PM, when the flight entered Indian airspace, the hijacking commenced. The hijackers forced the pilot to divert over Lucknow and then head to Lahore. But since there was insufficient fuel, the plane had to land at Amritsar for refuelling as per Captain Sharan.
• This was a good opportunity for Indian authorities to take control of the flight from the terrorists but nothing materialised. Indecision and a lack of communication between Delhi and Amritsar ensured that the aeroplane left Amritsar without refuelling. The Crisis Management Group in Delhi had asked the Amritsar airport authorities to immobilise the aeroplane. Punjab Police’s armed personnel were ready to attack the flight but did not get approval from Delhi. Hijackers’ suspicions led to the flight taking off without refuelling.
• The flight made an emergency landing at Lahore, Pakistan due to very low fuel levels. Although Pakistani authorities had initially denied permission for the flight to land on its soil and even switched off all the lights at the Lahore airport, it had to finally agree for the landing when it was understood that the plane would have to crash land. Refuelling was done and the flight took off from Lahore at 10:32 PM. Pakistan denied the pilot’s request to offload a few women and children passengers.
• After that, the flight landed at the Al Minhad Air Base in Dubai. Here, 27 passengers were freed. The Indian government had requested UAE authorities for permission to carry out a commando operation to end the crisis with Indian military men, but the request was turned down.
• Finally, the aircraft landed in Kandahar in Afghanistan. Afghanistan was then ruled by the Taliban and this complicated matters since the Indian government had not recognised the Taliban as a legitimate government.
• Taliban authorities agreed to act as negotiators between the Indian government and the hijackers. The flight was surrounded by Taliban gunmen ostensibly to deter the hijackers from killing hostages, but their intentions have been questioned. It was probably to prevent an Indian military attack on the hijackers.
• Since there was no Indian high commission in Afghanistan at that time, an official from the High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan was sent to Kandahar.
• India sent a team for negotiations headed by Vivek Katju.
• The demands of the terrorists were the release of three militants held captive in India viz. Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. They also demanded money first. Surprisingly, the Taliban convinced the hijackers to drop that demand.
• Running out of options and time, the Indian government agreed to release these three men and sent them to Kandahar with the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh.
• The hostages were released after the three terrorists were handed over to the hijackers.

Aftermath of the IC 814 Hijacking

• The hijackers had killed one Indian passenger, 25-year old Rupan Katyal.
• Maulana Masood Azhar went on to found the Jaish-e-Muhammed in 2000 and was responsible for the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament.
• Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh went on to abduct and execute American journalist Daniel Pearl. He is also alleged to have had a prominent role in the 9/11 attacks in the USA. He was arrested in 2002 by Pakistani authorities and was sentenced to death but his sentence has been delayed. He has been in prison in Karachi since then.
• Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar has been training militants in POK since his release.
• This hijacking case was investigated by the CBI and they have arrested a few people in connection with the case.
• The hijacking is a painful memory for India for more than one reason. Lessons were learnt about crisis management, handling hostage situations and maintaining superlative security in airports and elsewhere from this unfortunate incident.

The Taliban Offensive of 2021 led to the fall of President Ashraf Ghani’s government in Kabul, leading to Taliban overtaking the Afghanistan government. With the US troops moving out, this was a turning point in Afghanistan’s history. In this process, all the countries were trying to evacuate their people and personnel from the war-torn country.

India being an able friend of the country for years, evacuations were to be done immediately before any problems took place. It was the time for the Indian Air Force and other defense forces to act and bring the Indian citizens stuck in Afghanistan back to the safer shores of their motherland. It was a decision that had to be taken strategically.

Operation Devi Shakti – Key Points

On August 17, PM Modi had directed the Cabinet Committee to ensure evacuation of all Indians from Afghanistan to be on a safe mode. It was also decided that India will also provide help to Afghan Sikhs and Hindus who want to move out of the country. Finally, with the arrival of a fresh batch of 78 evacuees who reached Delhi from the country, The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India gave this complex mission a name that was worth the reckoning. It was named Operation Devi Shakti.

The main purpose of this mission was to evacuate Indian citizens from the affected country. Operation Devi Shakti 2021 was named to honour the Indian Air Force and other defence forces. The name came to the forefront when External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar tweeted about it on August 24, 2021.

The Indian embassy stranded in Kabul was also brought back to India. Jaishankar had mentioned it as a “difficult and complicated” exercise. It was all due to the Indian Air Force and their valiant efforts the operation started on a successful note. The Indian counterpart had stepped up its efforts with Operation Devi Shakti to evacuate Indians and its Afghan partners from Kabul amidst the increasing hostilities by the Taliban.

The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist political and military organisation operating in Afghanistan. Learn in detail about the same at the linked article.

The Indian Air Force

On August 23, an Indian Air Force flight took off from India and brought back 75 Sikhs from Afghanistan along with three copies of the Guru Granth Sahib. One more aircraft brought back around 150 people, including Indian diplomats, officials, security personnel, and some stranded Indians from Kabul. Every member of the Air Force made sure that every passenger was brought home on safe grounds as the escalating tensions outside the airport were very much in chaos.

Under its mission, “Operation Devi Shakti”, India has already evacuated over 800 people after Kabul was captured by the Taliban on August 15.

The American Support and the Resumption of Operation Devi Shakti

With the situation deteriorating in Afghanistan, the evacuation wasn’t an easy process. With support from the US Armed Forces, the Indian Air Force carried out the task through Operation Devi Shakti successfully. The American forces were handling the security at the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul. In between this period, the tensions had escalated. The Government of India had decided to stop the process for a week; post one week, the evacuation was resumed,  with India successfully evacuating 800 people from Kabul in between security worries.

OPERATION KAVERI

Naming of the missions

• This is on the same lines as that the PM chose to name the operation in Ukraine as Operation Ganga.
• The Kaveri is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• The river is sacred to the people of the region and is worshipped as the Goddess Kaveriamma (mother Kaveri).
• Rivers reach their destination irrespective of barriers. It's like a mother who will ensure she will bring her children back to safety.
• The rescue operation undertaken by India when Afghanistan was under attack from the Taliban was called 'Operation Devi Shakti'.
  • Goddess Durga is a protector and comes to the help of people in distress.
  • The name of the divine helps boost morale of people in stressful situation.
• This year, India sent rescue and relief material to an earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria and that was named Operation Dost.

About the river

• The Kaveri is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• The Kaveri River rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu district of the state of Karnataka and flows for about 800 km before its outfall into the Bay of Bengal.
• It is the third largest river – after Godavari and Krishna – in southern India, and the largest in the state of Tamil Nadu, which, on its course, bisects the state into north and south.
• In ancient Tamil literature, the river was also called Ponni (the golden mother, in reference to the fine silt it deposits).
• The Kaveri is a sacred river to the people of South India and is worshipped as the Goddess Kaveriamma (Mother Cauvery). It is considered to be among the seven holy rivers of India.
• It is extensively used for agriculture in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.