It was controversial then, it is controversial now. When the news of IC 814 hijack spread, it brought the entire country to it’s drawing rooms, glued to televisions. Watching the nerve-wrecking drama unfold for almost seven days, everyone prayed for the safety of the crew as well as the passengers.
After 24 years, when the web series is released based on the hijack, it is marred not only with controversy but anger from the public for shielding the true identity of the hijackers. The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has summoned Netflix content head, Monika Shergill, over the names of the 4 hijackers in the series. Using hashtags such as #IC814, #BoycottNetflix, and #BoycottBollywood, users said that the names of the 4 hijackers were deliberately changed. Within hours of it’s launch, the series triggered a sharp reaction from a large number of social media users who accused the makers of concealing the real identities of the hijackers, and misrepresenting several details of what had actually transpired. Some social media users alleged that, although at some places the real footage had been used, the series’ narrative was riddled with many fictional details. A petition has also been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking a ban on the series. Film maker Anubhav Sinha was accused for deliberately distorting facts and using the series as “propaganda”.
In the series, hijackers are referred to as Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya Tweeted On X : “The hijackers of IC-814 were dreaded terrorists, who acquired aliases to hide their Muslim identities. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, legitimised their criminal intent, by furthering their non-Muslim names. Result? Decades later, people will think Hindus hijacked IC-814.” He further claimed that this will not only weaken or put in question India’s security apparatus in the long run but also shift the blame away from the religious cohort responsible for the bloodshed.
As per a statement by the Home Ministry on January 6, 2000, the real names of the hijackers were Ibrahim Athar (Bahawalpur), Shahid Akhtar Sayed (Gulshan Iqbal, Karachi), Sunny Ahmed Qazi (Defence Area, Karachi), Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim (Akhtar Colony, Karachi), and Shakir (Sukkur City).
The statement further mentioned that to the passengers, these hijackers were known as Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola and Shankar. It also noted that the hijackers addressed one another by these names in front of the passengers. However, after much deliberations, on December 31, 1999, three militants were surrendered in exchange for the release of the remaining passengers and crew of Indian Airlines Flight 814.
The series has had sharp reaction from former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference Vice- president Omar Abdullah who took to X (formerly Twitter) saying, “It’s really amusing to see the people who took movies like Kashmir Files as the gospel truth having a meltdown at the way the events of IC814 are depicted in the Netflix show. Now suddenly they want accuracy & nuance packaged in the script.”
It’s really amusing to see the people who took movies like Kashmir Files as the gospel truth having a melt down at the way the events of IC814 are depicted in the Netflix show. Now suddenly they want accuracy & nuance packaged in the script.
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) September 1, 2024
Priyanka Chaturvedi, Rajya Sabha MP , Shiv Sena (UBT) in her tweet on X was more scathing
The RW outrage over a series on IC 814, which I haven’t seen nor endorse, is not as much for the series as it is a reminder of BJP government’s massive failure then, it reminds the nation how the intelligence and government agencies were caught off guard. Much like the Kargil war…
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) September 2, 2024
Former DIGP Jammu, SP Vaid said, “The series should be banned, if not rectified”. He said the series tried to conceal the role of Pakistan’s spy agency ISI. In a video message, he further said, “The real names of the Pakistan-sponsored hijackers are hidden (in the web series). If the upcoming generation doesn’t know all these details, they might think that this hijacking was carried out by Indians, and that Pakistan, ISI, or the deep state had no role. I personally supervised it…I am a witness to that hijacking incident. As the DIG of Jammu, I supervised the release of Azhar Masood. I had to take him from jail to the Jammu technical airport, where a special plane was waiting to take him to Delhi. There was a vile smile on his face — ‘I forced your country to release me’.”
The film maker may have his own propaganda in the making of the series, what is more disturbing is how could Ministry of Information and Broadcasting be so callous in it’s approach to such a sensitive incident which not only rocked the nation, but took the lives of 186 passengers on board to ransom!
