IC 814 hijackers told Nepalese, "see you again" !

The otherwise peace loving Nepali people simply tremble when they listen to the events of the sort of skyjacking-the one happened only a fortnight ago. I'm told that the Nepalese people even are afraid of their own wives. Because it is this breed of the women folks in Nepal that control the entire financial activities of the household. Roughly speaking, an earning guardian of the Nepali family has formed a habit of submitting the details of his salary to his wife or else he has to face so many told and untold problems. This is unique in Nepal and perhaps others should also copy this exclusive Nepali tradition. So for a person who remains terrified with his own wife understandably can't collect the courage to listen to the acts of theft, dacoity and hijacking. More so, the hijackers have told the Nepalese hostages while bidding farewell, "see you again". This news in itself sufficient to terrify the Nepalese people for long time to come.

This notwithstanding, a group of Nepali Congress activists some twenty seven years ago, had dared to hijack a Kathmandu bound Twin otter plane which was fortunately carrying Rupees 32 lakhs. The hijackers forced the plane to land in a near by Indian town and sent back the plane to Biratnagar from where it had departed to Kathmandu. The story of the missing money is yet a mystery. However, what is for sure is that some of the engineers of the grand hijacking are well-placed in Bhattarai led ministry.

Last week, when I listened to the congress statement, which denounced the fresh IC 814 hijack episode, I could not control myself for obvious reasons.

The hijacking of the Indian airliner has exposed so many things. The most unfortunate part had been that it was hijacked instantly after the plane took off from the Nepali soil. Then came the role of the Indian media in exaggerating the alleged security lapses in our International airport as if it had been the first time that an Indian airliner had been hijacked. Later comes the blunder of the Indian authorities who did not allow the plane to land in Lucknow-their own soil. The Himalayan blunder followed when the establishment could not manage the plane to remain stranded in Amritsar, yet again in their own soil. Reports have it that the hijacked plane was in the ground for not less than forty-seven minutes. The media began speculating any thing under the sun when the hijacked plane left the Indian soil. The Indian authorities also made a mistake when the hijacked plane landed in Dubai. Here at Dubai the Indian establishment could have sought the helps of the government there. A chance was missed. Later when the plane landed at Kandhar, an alien land with whom India enjoyed no diplomatic relations, things became very difficult for India. Yet, the Taliban order in Kandhar supported the Indian cause on humanitarian consideration.

The Zee TV back in India by then had already begun a tirade against Nepal. The said TV invited so many defense experts who all pointed that it was Nepal and her authorities who should be held responsible for the hijacking. Mrs. Savita Pandey and the incumbent law minister Ram Jethmalani and Manoj Joshi of Times of India were vocal in deriding at Nepal who apparently hinted their government to "do the needful" so that such events do not occur in the future.

The self-styled supposition of the Zee TV that one Nepali Gajendraman Tamrakar was also among the hijackers perhaps jolted the Nepali sentiments and hence followed the Panchayati style of denouncing India and her media. The foreign minister who earlier talked to Zee TV in Hindi language better late than never, retorted at a press conference which was later followed by other competent political parties and the self-styled Nepalese foreign policy experts.

On top of that the Nepalese Ambassador B.B.Thapa who should have been in India to retort to the media allegations was in Kathmandu.

Now that the hijacking drama has come to an end yet a few things must be kept in mind. On our part, we must tighten our security systems at the TIA. All the officers, who have been sent to serve at the TIA for their "loyalties" to a particular individual or a party, must be summarily be dismissed so that such events do not occur in the future.

The "media experts at the Zee TV should perhaps study the ethics of journalism. Ability of asking fiery questions not only counts in journalism. What is counted most is the presentation of the facts.

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