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Srinagar: Forty-three years after it happened, few remember that one of the
earliest plane hijacks in the world was carried out with a toy
pistol by a 16-year-old Kashmiri boy. But in the mind of Hashim
Qureshi, that boy who is now 59 years old, the incident still
ticks away like the script of a high voltage Hollywood thriller.
He hijacked an Indian Airlines Srinagar-Jammu flight to Lahore Jan
30, 1969, armed with a toy pistol and a wooden grenade. From a
freedom fighting hijacker to an advocate of peace and progress
today, his journey has been arduous.
Hashim, who is still facing a hijack case in a Srinagar court -
the trial has been going on for 12 years, says he first went to
Pakistan in 1968 to see his sister who had married there.
"I met Maqbool Bhat (founder of the pro-independence outfit JKLF)
in Peshawar. Bhat said India would never leave an inch of Kashmir
to Pakistan, but an independent Kashmir could always be
negotiated," Hashim told IANS in an interview.
Hashim became dedicated to the freedom cause. He came back and
circumstances helped him use the Border Security Force (BSF) for
his plans.
"In a haircutting salon in Lal Chowk, I met a Kashmiri Border
Security Force (BSF) officer. I told him I wanted to go to
Pakistan. He agreed to help me cross the border provided I brought
some information the BSF needed. I agreed and the BSF managed my
clandestine entry into Pakistan through the Sialkot border."
He was actually double-crossing the BSF. In Pakistan, Hashim was
trained for the hijack.
"Maqbool Bhat said to highlight the Kashmir problem we must hijack
an Indian plane. Javaid Mantoo, a retired pilot, helped
familiarise me with a Fokker Friendship plane. He took me to
Chaklala airport where I was allowed to see the plane from
inside."
After hijack training, Hashim crossed back into Kashmir from the
Sialkot border.
"I boarded a bus, but the bus was stopped by police and I was
caught with a pistol and a hand grenade. I was taken to a BSF
interrogation centre. I told them how I had been trained along
with three others for the hijack in Pakistan.
"I was asked by the BSF to keep a watch at the Srinagar airport.
An advertisement appeared in a newspaper about the sale of a
look-real pistol which could be used to scare away thieves. I
ordered one by post. I fabricated a wooden hand grenade and
painted it with metallic colour."
Hashim booked tickets on the Srinagar-Jammu Indian Airlines Fokker
Friendship flight for Jan 30, 1969, for himself and his cousin
Ashraf.
"Once airborne, I rushed to the cockpit, placed the pistol on the
pilot's head and announced the hijack. We ordered the pilot to fly
the plane to Pakistan. There were 34 passengers, including the
crew.
"We landed at Lahore airport at 1 p.m. Jan 30, 1969. Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto reached there. The Pakistan authorities asked us to release
the passengers. I said not before I had spoken to Maqbool Bhat. We
remained at the airport till 8.30 p.m. Feb 2, 1969.
"Then a Lahore police official came and told us to finish the
drama and set the plane ablaze. Bhat opposed the torching of the
plane. He said we should continue the ordeal at Lahore airport to
get maximum media attention.
"Finally, one Pakistan army officer came with a canister of fuel
and told us Bhat had said we must now set the plane on fire. We
did it, but later learnt that Bhat had opposed torching of the
Indian plane till the very end," Hashim told IANS.
After the hijack, Hashim and his cousin were treated like heroes
in Pakistan for three months. "Everywhere we went, a hero's
welcome awaited us," he said.
But glory was shortlived. "I was arrested in April 1971 in
Pakistan and released in 1980. After my release, I was told by
Pakistan intelligence that we should arrange groups of Kashmiri
youth for training in firearms.
"They said after militancy spread in Kashmir, Pakistan would come
to our assistance by an armed invasion. It was clear they were
looking for Kashmiris to fight Pakistan's proxy war against India
without committing themselves to our independence.
"I finally left Pakistan in August 1986 for Holland and remained
there till December 27, 2000, when I got homesick."
Today he advocates freezing of the Kashmir issue for 20 years to
address the hatred between India and Pakistan.
Hashim lives on a hillside mansion in the Nishat area of the city
where he gazes at the Dal Lake from his multi-terraced lawn,
playing golf in between - and recounting his story.
(Sheikh Abdul Qayoom can be contacted at sheikh.abdul@ians.in)
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