IC814: The Untold Story

On 24 th December 1999, Flight IC-814, scheduled to fly from Kathmandu to Delhi, was hijacked. After a twisted journey via Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai, the hijackers took it to Taliban-controlled Kandahar, Afghanistan. The hijacked plane landed in Amritsar for refuelling and was there for 50 minutes. Despite this, the authorities, including the Punjab Police and the Army, could not take advantage of the situation. Once the plane left Amritsar, India had no option but to negotiate with the hijackers to bring back the passengers. Why did India not ensure that the plane did not leave Amritsar? Could the passengers' ordeal have ended in Amritsar? What were the orders for the Army? Brig Kuldip Singh (Retd), who was commanding an armoured regiment at Amritsar at the time of the hijack, recounts what happened when the flight landed in Amritsar.