When India’s ‘Ganga’ landed in Lahore, the plane was set on fire, poor 29 passengers!

Plane Hijack Story Series: That day, ‘Ganga’ was to fly from Srinagar Airport to Jammu. The flight took off from Srinagar Airport on time and was to land at Jammu Airport after a few minutes. Before the flight landed, Hashim Qureshi and Ashraf Qureshi took control of Ganga and took her to Lahore. As soon as Ganga landed at Lahore Airport, not only Indian but also Pakistani security agencies became active. With the news of Ganga reaching Lahore Airport, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto also reached the airport.

After this, there was a long whispering between Pakistani Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali, Pakistani security agency and terrorists. The result of this whispering was that Ganga, which was struggling for about 80 hours, was set on fire. In no time, Ganga, engulfed in flames, turned into ashes at Lahore airport. Actually, the Ganga that is being talked about here was the oldest Fokker F27 aircraft of Indian Airlines at that time, which everyone called ‘Ganga’. This Ganga aircraft was hijacked by two hijackers between Srinagar and Jammu.

Also read: IC-123 circled Lahore and landed, then a man came in the pilot’s uniform, the passengers in the plane were terrified. As soon as he entered the cockpit, this person threatened the captain and said that the plane has been hijacked… the plane will now go to Lahore and not Srinagar. Meanwhile, something happened in the plane, seeing which the hijacker became furious and he… to know the whole story Click Do it.

A conspiracy to hijack ‘Ganga’ was hatched in Pakistan
In fact, about 53 years ago, Maqbool Bhat of the Pakistani terrorist organization National Liberation Front had hatched a conspiracy to hijack an Indian Airlines plane with the aim of bringing the Kashmir issue to the world’s attention. To carry out this conspiracy, Maqbool Bhat had chosen a terrorist named Hashim Qureshi. Maqbool Bhat first trained Hashim Qureshi in guerrilla warfare in Rawalpindi. After this, Pakistani Air Force pilot Jamshed Manto specifically trained him for hijacking. Hashim Qureshi was caught by Indian security agencies during an infiltration attempt.

During interrogation, Hashim agreed that he would provide information about the National Liberation Front terrorists active in Kashmir and their activities to the Indian security agencies. He was released on this condition. After being released, Hashim once again started plotting to hijack an Indian Airlines plane. To carry out this incident, Hashim also involved his cousin Ashraf Qureshi. As per the conspiracy, Hashim along with his cousin Ashraf had to hijack the Indian Airlines plane Ganga and take it to Lahore.

Also read: There was an attempt to capture the airport, 47 terrorists entered the Air India plane, 6 hours passed in fear, and then everything ended!… About 47 terrorists armed with ultra-modern weapons forcibly entered the Air India plane which had arrived at Seychelles International Airport for refueling and hijacked the plane. To know what happened after this, read here Click Do it.

Negotiations with the hijackers began under Bhutto’s supervision
As part of the conspiracy, on 30 January 1971, Hamish and Ashraf managed to enter the Indian Airlines plane ready to leave Srinagar Airport for Jammu with explosives in the Ganga. Shortly after the plane took off, Hashim entered the cockpit. He threatened the captain and asked him to take the plane to Lahore. If this was not done, he threatened to blow up the plane. The captain turned the plane towards Lahore and sent information about the plane being hijacked to the Indian Air Traffic Control. After a few minutes, the plane started circling over Lahore Airport.

As soon as permission was received from Lahore Airport’s ATC, the plane was landed at Lahore Airport. On receiving information about the arrival of Indian Airlines plane Ganga in Lahore, the then Pakistani Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto also reached the airport. Negotiations started between the plane hijackers and Pakistani airport agencies under the eyes of the Pakistani minister. In the talks, the hijackers put forward the demand of releasing 36 terrorists of National Liberation Front lodged in Indian jails. At the same time, Indian agencies put forward the condition of releasing the passengers and crew before taking a decision on fulfilling any kind of demand.

Also read: When a plane was hijacked with a toy gun, Indira made the hijackers MLA, you will also be shocked to know the whole incident… The plane going from Kolkata to Delhi was hijacked by two hijackers with toy pistols. After a dramatic incident at Varanasi airport, both the hijackers were arrested. As a reward for this hijacking, Congress gifted the post of MLA to both the hijackers. To know what was the whole case Click Do it.

Hijackers caught in the trap of Indian agencies, and then…
At that time, the hijackers thought that the Indian plane was in their control, so the passengers could be released. Giving importance to the plane, the hijackers released all 29 passengers and 3 crew members. These passengers and crew members were sent to India via the Attari border. On the other hand, as soon as the passengers and crew reached Amritsar, Indian agencies refused to accept the hijackers’ demands. On knowing this, the hijackers as well as the Pakistani security agencies got nervous. They started searching the Indian Airlines plane and took the papers and mail bags present in the aircraft in their possession.

After this, on the advice of the Pakistani army, the hijackers set the Indian Airlines plane Ganga on fire. Later, due to Indian pressure, Pakistani security agencies arrested a total of seven people including Hashim Qureshi and his cousin Ashraf Qureshi. A one-member inquiry committee headed by Justice Noorul Arifin was formed to investigate the case. This inquiry committee declared everyone innocent except Hashim Qureshi. Hashim Qureshi was sentenced to only 15 months imprisonment. Later, he was acquitted of this punishment as well.

Tag: Airport Diaries, airport security, amritsar news, jammu kashmir news