The Amritsar bungle

DECEMBER 26: Thirty Nine minutes in Amritsar. If they had been used effectively the nation may have been spared much of the traumatic unce...

DECEMBER 26: Thirty Nine minutes in Amritsar. If they had been used effectively the nation may have been spared much of the traumatic uncertainty it has had to experience over the fate of flight IC-814 and its terrorised passengers. Indeed, many feel the pilot of the aircraft, Captain S.D. Sharan, demonstrated exemplary courage by ensuring that the hijacked plane was brought to Indian soil. The authorities, however, could not measure up to the opportunity this presented.

When the time came for action, the national security regime could only look on impotently, as the aircraft took off for Lahore. There are, of course, many who argue that this is only wisdom at hindsight. That thirty-odd minutes is too brief a period with which to assess the situation, especially since the desperadoes on board had not yet made their demands and there was no knowing who they were and what the forces they represented were.

Indeed, or so the argument goes, if the authorities had forced the hijackers8217; hand it may have ledthem to panic and act rashly, jeopardising the lives of 189 in the process. There are also those who point out that the only time-tested way to deal with hijackers is to give them a long rope and let them wear themselves down before they can be neutralised effectively. All this may well be the case, but the fact remains that the national security regime, such as it is, has proved a comprehensive failure.

If engagement with the hijackers was to have been the chosen route, it failed. Not once in all those 39 minutes was any attempt made to try and open a channel of communication with the hijackers. If commando action against the hijackers was to have been the chosen route, it once again failed. Not once in all those 39 minutes was any attempt made to immobilise the aircraft, either by shooting at the tyres or blocking the runway. Not once in all those 39 minutes was any attempt made to utilise the services of the country8217;s exclusive Special Action Group, set up exclusively to handle precisely suchsituations.

After all, it is well-known that a hijacking is no picnic. By about 5 pm on Saturday, it was known that flight IC-814 was in the hands of hijackers. This means that there were approximately two hours of preparation time for the authorities to formulate an adequate response to the situation. Of course, in theory the country has it down pat. In theory, the National Security Guards is supposed to get its act together in 30 minutes flat 8212; or so its 8220;war book8221; says. So how is it that even with 120 minutes at hand, the system failed so abysmally? This is a question that is going to haunt the country, not just today but for many days to come.

Indeed, it will continue to worry people even if the country were to emerge from the present imbroglio relatively unscathed. Quick, incisive action is what national security is about. Hand-eye coordination is what national security is all about. Decision-makers and the men in fatigues acting together with single-minded purpose is what national security is allabout. Alas, the hijacking of Flight IC 184 revealed how badly prepared India was to face up to the challenge of international terrorism. And it is the innocent passenger who has to pay the price.