Mamata was able to be hostage throughout Kandahar disaster, says Sinha

Former BJP chief Yashwant Sinha, who joined the Trinamool Congress on Saturday, has issued a weird assertion saying Mamata Banerjee wished to supply herself as a hostage in change for passengers of the hijacked aircraft within the ‘Kandahar incident’ for the sake of the nation.
After formally becoming a member of the get together, Yashwant Sinha claimed that after the Indian Airlines IC 814 flight was hijacked by Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorists, who took the flight to Afghanistan’s Kandahar, Mamata Banerjee had supplied to be a hostage to free the opposite civilians.
“At the time of the Kandahar plane highjack incident, Mamataji proposed to the cabinet that she was ready to be a hostage so others are freed. She was ready to give her life for the country,” Yashwant Sinha mentioned.
#WATCH | TMC Yashwant Sinha says, Mamata Banerjee wished to supply herself as a hostage in change for passengers of the hijacked aircraft in ‘Kandahar incident’, for the nation. pic.twitter.com/Pf1CBJGLyg— ANI (@ANI) March 13, 2021
Mamata Banerjee, who was then the ally of the BJP and a part of the NDA coalition, served because the Minister of Railways within the Atal Bihari Vajpayee authorities throughout the incident on December 24, 1999. Yashwant Sinha was the Minister of Finance within the Vajpayee authorities.
Kandahar hijack:
On December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines IC 814, with 178 passengers and 11 crew members, left Kathmandu for Delhi. It entered Indian airspace at 5.30 pm and was hijacked shortly after. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen hijacked the airline with the help and lively help of ISI earlier than flying to a number of areas earlier than touchdown in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The hostage disaster ended after seven days when India agreed to launch three dreaded Islamic terrorists – Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Maulana Masood Azhar.
IC-814 was en route from Kathmandu to New Delhi. The hijackers directed the pilot Captain Devi Sharan to fly to Lahore initially. However, The captain flew to Amritsar citing inadequate gas and persuaded the hijackers to permit him to land the aircraft at Amritsar. While the Crisis Management Group (CMG), headed by the Cabinet Secretary, was nonetheless deliberating on coping with the state of affairs, the IC-814 had already left Amritsar. Even although there was a 45-50 minute window to hold out an operation to finish the hostage disaster, the federal government of the day didn’t favor to take the chance, fearing the casualties. The reluctance from the federal government to go for an NSG operation additionally got here from the truth that the opposition led by the Congress get together, aided by its pleasant media, had put extreme stress to ensure that the Vajpayee authorities didn’t contemplate any army operation to launch the hostages.
IC 814 was finally taken to Kandahar in Southern Afghanistan from Amritsar, after briefly touching down in Lahore and Dubai. After the IC-814 reached Kandahar, which by the way was the bottom of the Taliban authorities, headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar. The hijackers had demanded the discharge of 35 terrorists from Indian prisons, together with the dreaded terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar and had demanded $200mn in money.
The Indian authorities despatched in a group of negotiators headed by Diplomat Vivek Katju, Ajit Doval, who was a excessive rating Intelligence Bureau officer then, Nehchal Sandhu, and CD Sahay, together with few different representatives of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. On December 31, 1999, the disaster got here to an finish as India agreed to launch three of the highest militants together with Masood Azhar, the founding father of the terrorist outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammad. During these negotiations, Doval was additionally efficient in bringing down the variety of terrorists to be launched from 35 to only three.
Years later, many senior authorities officers who had been concerned with the negotiating group, together with NSA Ajit Doval had spoken in regards to the destructive function performed by the media to place stress on the discharge of hostages.