The Rediff Special
'This govt only knows how to break a temple, not a terrorist operation'
Nightmare of Flight 814, Message Board. Views verbatim, edited lightly.
Views verbatim, edited lightly.
Name:Indian
Email:ind342@yahoo.com
Message: Get the plane back into India! (Why did they let it go in the first place?) While engageing in talking with hijackers, Storm the aircraft!
Name:Desi
Email:dfgs123@hotmail.com
Message:Release terrorists and this will happen again! So no negotiating with terrorists!Period. They must put anti-terrorist persons on every flight in the future... For now! 1.Get the plane into India, or to a country where anti-terrorist commandos can operate. 2.Get hostage rescue talks going for distraction. 3.storm the plane.
Name:prashant
Email:prashantd@yahoo.com
Message:Kill the bastards kashmiri militants who hijacked the plane and also kill the militants who are in jail .
Name:mac
Email:gardenboy@msn.com
Message:special torture should be administered to each of the three terrorist in jail with the picture of the plane in front of them. This would last for weeks until each passanger is released alive... and that each terroirst if captured will be subjected to hEAVEY Metal music with cathlic overtones added....yours truly Ex marine special forces tactical division.
Name:Ghanshyam Das
Email:gddas@rocket.com
Message:The government should announce the execution of the mulla.
Name:Shivashis
Email:shivashis@hotmail.com
Message:No way, Govt of India should start torturing all the persons demanded by the Terorist. Also govt should start bombing not only in POK but also in Kashmir.
Name:Vivek Rajan
Email:vivekr@worldnet.att.net
Message:GOVT OF INDIA - - Please do SOMETHING, the entire world is unable to understand your inaction. How can you refuse to negotiate ? Will you still refuse to negotiate or do SOMETHING after they kill say 10 more people ? Naresh Chandra (who MUST BE REPLACED) bungled and fumbled all over CNN. His idea is "friendly countries" can help solve the crisis, and that India will do NOTHING other than contacting friendly countries. PLEASE.. let us not see two blunders in this case. NEGOTIATE DIRECTLY with the hijackers NOW!!!
Name:Bhoomaiah Alishetti
Email:balishetii@prismsolutions.com
Message:I hope the GOI acts with strength and courage. when 120 million muslims can live with Hindus why not Kashmiri Muslims? Govt should have courage and determination to handle the situation. Don't give in. Whole situation should be thorougly understood and act in proactive way. Fight the war in enemy's territory. There are many soft point there too. What is happening to L K Advani?
Name:This
Email:Kick_PAK@world.net
Message:The Pakistani Terrorist responsible for hundreds of rape and murders in Kashmir, they want released... Maulana Masood Azhar. This is the FOURTH ATTEMPT BY PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT SPONSORED FORCES TO SECURE RELEASE OF THE SAME TERRORIST... Last time four western tourists were butchered by his group Al Faran....
Name:Susnato Mukherjee
Email:somamukh@hotmail.com
Message:The Indian Goverment should immediately release Maulana. The BJP govt is such a sterile govt that it has no capability of initiating a comando operation. Had the gandhis been in power this would have been solved by Saturday itself. This Govt only knows how to break a temple, not a terrorist operation. Maulana must be released immediately and the people freed. Thanks,
Name:b. narayan
Email:bnarayan@exchange.chatham.edu
Message:The Indian government needs to stop dilly-dallying and do whatever it takes to save the passengers. They cannot just wish that the problem would resolve itself! Seek outside help if necessary. Negotiate. It is better to let one accused person off the hook than to have 180 innocent lives lost. If the Indian government cannot help its citizens, who will? Do something, and do it fast.
Name:BK
Email:bk_usa@homemail.com
Message:Dear PM Vajpayee, We are praying for the safe return of our dear friend and other passengers on the hijacked plane. These were my immediate observations during a recent visit to Mumbai International Airport. Most security officers had gathered around two coworkers playing chess. So much for their alertness !. A drunken passenger waved at an officer who stamped his passport and saved him the trouble of standing in line for immigration check. A young customs officer sporting a GOI badge approached a passenger and offered to let him pass through without harrassment for $100. How can India fight terrorism when our airports are run by corrupt and inefficient officials ? This is not the time to fix our lapses. Please arrange for the safe release of the passengers.
Name:Has to be this way!
Email:reader87@yahoo.com
Message:I agree that government should not bend before the terrorists. While it may sound insensitive, this is the only strategy that works. If the government frees a few terrorists, terrorists may free the passengers. But even that is not for sure. They will ask for even more if one batch of jailed terrorists are released. If terrorists win here, that will send a terrible message to the terrorists. We have a VERY VERY bad experience in this regard. Kashmir terrorism started full fledged when V P Singh government released some terrorists in exchange for Mufti Mohamad Sayed's daughter. That was the watershed event for terrorism in Kashmir. With this in mind, government has to keep all options open except yielding to the terrorists.The argument that the life of a few terrorists is much less than the lives of 150+ civilians doesn't represent the scenario. It is much more than that. It will open the whole flood gates if terrorists win here. This is a highly visible psychological game we cannot afford to lose.
Name:Nandu
Email:nandu@global.net.pg
Message:NEVER
Name:venkat
Email:petro76@hotmail.com
Message: There should be no giving in to demands. If we do it'll set a precedent and all and sundry will be encouraged to hijack planes. We made the mistake once when we released terrorists during the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping. Not again! Yes the option is to storm it but that can hardly be done in Afghanistan. India has neither the will nor the capacity to go storming planes in foreign countries hostile to us. Again talking with the Taleban might be construed as giving legitimacy to that regime which have denounced all over the place. We should let the plane come to India or Pakistan (pakistan will be willing to storm it for us) and end this by force. Yes we will have a few casualities, and I feel no joy in saying it, but for the greater good it needs to be done
Name:Gagandeep
Email:gagandeep1@yahoo.com
Message:This is a very difficult time for the relatives of those people still on board. Yet our government has to think many times before bowing to a terrorist demand. This is primarily because bowing could lead to more terrorist activity in the future. It may send a message to terrorists that hijackings would be a effective in hampering India. For this reason there should be no negotiating with terrorists unless it is very well planned out to trick the terrorists.
Name:Lakshman
Email:lakshmanpv@hotmail.com
Message:The Indian Government under V P Singh has set a bad precedent. The Indian Government has done it once and now they would have done it again if some minister's son or daughter was involved. Why not do it for innocent common people.
Name:Another Option
Email:AO@yahoo.com
Message:Let's not bother keeping Maulana Azhar and his ilk in jails - just kill them before they create other problems!!!A Muslim cleric, Azhar was the ideologue of the Harkat ul-Ansar, a group on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations. The group is believed to have its training camps in Afghanistan. In 1995, the organization kidnapped five foreign trekkers and tried to bargain their lives for Azhar's freedom. One, a Norwegian, was found decapitated and the other four are still missing and believed dead.
Name:K.G.Venkatraman
Email:kgvraman@sigmaonline.net.in
Message: The entire incident indicates that Indian Airlines is not very professional and far too many centres of authority.Why was not not the authorities come to terms and take decisions when the aircraft was at Amritsar?It is time that IA is streamlined.I think it is better to release the terrorist than holding on to prestegious views.The GOI ought to realise that lives of people are more important than dogmatic views.
Name:Indian
Email:boldleo1@usa.net
Message:I am not sure if my suggetions are worth not. But here they are. 1) It is possible that few of passengers on flight 814 has celluler phones. So what we should do is activate the afganistan region for mobile signals. Please meri baton ko joke mat samzhna. Main subhah se 20 bar ro chuka hun. 2) Also I have a question for Indian Politicians. Azhar ko tum logo ne 1994 me pakda tha. Ab tak kya uski aarti utaar rahe they ? Na yeh insaan aaj jinda hota, na yeh din dekhna padta hindustan ko. 1994 ke baad se 3 attempts ho chukey hain Azhar ko chudaney ke. Per pata nahi kyon usey aaj tak aisey sambhaal ker rakh rakhaa hai jaisey koi bachaa apna sabsey sunder khilona rakhta hai. What I am trying to say is "Jaisey hee koi hardcore terrorist pakda jaye, usey 2-3 months ke under under BHOON do. Sambhal sambhal ker mat rakho. 3) Abhee thodi der pehley CNN per news dekhi. I heard "India is not willing to talk to HighJackers." What is this ? Kai baar to mera dil karta hai ke in saley politicians ko to line main khada ker ke goli se udaa dun. I pray before god for the safe return of all the passengers on flight 814. Thanks Indian
Name:Indian
Email:boldleo1@usa.net
Message:At this moment a senior politician should get Masood from jail and take him to Kandahar on a special Indian Airline 320. And get all the passengers safely home. Only release of this Maulana can bring the pride of being an Indian. After all we care about only families and culture. If we don't care about our peoples and their lives than we are even worse than United States. Thanks Indian
Name:S B
Email:frdmfrall@planetmail.com
Message:Yes. Although the Maulana has said he is against securing his release in this manner and has condemned this hijacking, he should be allowed to talk to these guys to see if he can convince them to let the passengers and crew to go in peace without further bloodshed. These criminals have already killed one and there are reports of more. Let us stop it from escalating.
Name:Ganesan
Email:ganesan@firstc.com
Message:India witnessed the Kargil crisis only recently. So many brave soldiers and officers gave their lives for preserving Indian territory. They knew their lives were at stake and still went, fought in unliveable conditions willingly before laying down their lives. So many families lost the lives of their near and dear ones. Thousands more were lucky they did not lose their lives (and we were lucky for that too), but they staked their lives when fighting the enemy on the hills of Kargil, in the freezing cold. Each of them could well have lost their lives, and their families were aware of that. During that hour of crisis, India stood like a rock and said, we would fight it out to the last man.
Today, we are facing another crisis, the hijacking crisis. About 150 lives are at stake. All of us do feel very, very sorry for them and their families. But we should realise that the problem is similar to Kargil. The lives at stake are very, very important to us, but the national interests are far more important. Either we fight for the national interest refusing to yield to the hijacking threat today, or budge and expose that we don’t stand as solidly as a nation as we were during the Kargil crisis and that we can be easily cowed down by blackmailing of the hijacking type.
In the latter case, we convey the clear message that the lives of our Kargil heroes (and the others who had staked their lives) were less precious than the 150 lives at stake today. Particluarly that the lives of us, civilians, who undertake normal risks (like hijacking, mid-air collision or blast of travelling associated with an air plane) in our personal interest are far more important than the lives of our military men, who voluntarily subject their lives to high risk only in the interest of the Nation.
Name:Salman
Email:jehad@india.com
Message:What u guys have proven so far that u are uncapable of dealing with this situation. WHAT about all this innocent ppl u killed in Kashmir. I think the hijackers should even kill Rupin's widow..and blow up the plane. Onle then will guys understand the gravity of the situation.
Name:Jay khurana
Email:jskhurana@aol.com
Message:no,he should not be released. as hard as the decision may be,it will save lives in days to come.
Name:Ravi Kumar
Email:rksiddh@talk21.com
Message:There may be 2 options to deal with the situation 1) Delay talks till the terrorists are weary and are only looking for a way out - but this prolongs the agony of the passengers. 2) An Entebbe style commando operation. But since our planes will have to travel over Pakistani airspace this may not have the surprise element - as the Pakistanis who are hand in glove with the Talebanis will give them warning. But a friendly country could fly in a rescue mission from the west - Israel or US troops in the Gulf. But this should be followed by a swift but deadly attack on both Pakistan and Afghanistan and easculate these two countries once and for all. With each passing hour - more and more evidence of Pakistani involvement is becoming evident - so make use of the feeeling of revulsion that now exists against these two countries - that have come to represent the scum of the earth. Otherwise we will have to put up with more of these kind of situations.
Name:Krishna Rao
Email:krishna@megsinet.net
Message:Passengers's safety should be our government's utmost concern, at the same time they shouldn't compromise on national security. The situation is bad since the plane is stuck in Afghanistan, else they at least could have planned a commando raid if the plane was in a friendly country. This is a tough decision!! I pray for the safety of the hostages in the plane.
Name:Ajit Shanware
Email:ashanware@hotmail.com
Message:Hi, I am trying to understand how we can solve this problem. I think we cannot release this prisoner. Certainly not at all when our people are in a foreign country like Afghanistan. It will be completely stupid if we let this guy go. They might say, ok we have couple of more demands now. Pakistan and Afghan regimes are highly responsible for this cowardly act. I think they have planned this. How could Kashmiri militants are asking to release a pakistani citizen ? They could ask the great leader of some kashmiri movement. If we let go this guys, I wonder what will happen to morale of our army. How about those who are fighting and dying in valley ? How about those whose life was completely devastated by terrible acts of terrorism ? I think we are weak counrty and will become more weak if bend our pride and accepts their demands. I strongly feel we should not at all under any circumstances givein to this situation. We should keep on negotiating and lay blame on afghan and pak governments. Safety and wellness of these passagers is on them. Whole world is watching them and us. There is no chance that they can do any more harm. If they do, their numbers are counted....and they are very few now.....
Name:parthasarathy neelati
Email:npartha@hotmail.com
Message:It's is a very complicated question to answer ! on the one hand if the govt. releases him others might take advantage of this and may repeat again in some other form ! But the lives of the 150 passengers and the crew are also precious.
Name:JAGADEESH BHARADWAJ
Email:jaggib@hotmail.com
Message:prmoise them that their demands will be met. arrange for release. TIE SOME SOPHISTICATED BOMBS ON THE PERSONS WHO ARE TO BE RELEASED FROM JAIL. RELEASE THEM. ONCE WE GET THE RELEASE OF OUR INNOCENT 160 PERSONS ON BOARD, JUST EXPLODE THE BOMBS TIED ON THESE TERRORISTS BEING RELEASED FROM JAIL. NO MORE MERCIES TO TERRORISTS PLEASE. WE SHOULD BE AFRAID. JUST PLAN FAST AND EXECUTE.
Name:ANGAD
Email:angadsodhi@hotmail.com
Message:Dear Sir, i am an NRI staying in singapore and feel that the govt should send in drugged food sos that eveyone becomes unconcious and the troopers can get inside regards angad
Name:sfa
Email:sfalam@yahoo.com
Message:YES.
Name:Srikanth
Email:srikanth@asiamail.com
Message:NO.. Didn't our Jawans lose their lives in Kashmir ? All the efforts will be nullified if we cave into a few terrorists.
Name:Vivek
Email:
Message:Please do not release MM. Try and exhaust every other option but dont do that. This is going to start a chain reaction. My gut feeling is, they are not going to do anything with passengers. They are doing mental warfare. Please persist and do not create panic.
Name:Usha Dravid
Email:usha_dravid@hotmail.com
Message:I have been hoping and waiting for the government to do something like storming the plane at night, but in Taliban country this is not as easy as it seems. Besides, the Taliban-Pak unholy nexus is obviously at the root of this foul deed. If the Taliban are serious in their statement that they condemn such acts of violence, they should demonstrate it by giving Indian commandos a free hand in dealing with this situation. It is also possible that the hijackers are being replaced every few hours to keep them fresh, so 'wearing them out' is also perhaps not on the cards. But it is clear that this cannot go on for very long, as the mental trauma of all the passengers is a cause of great concern. I think storming the plane and forcing the Taliban hand is our best bet, as releasing the Pakistani terrorist is out of the question, and should not even be considered. May the commandos succeed. God bless all the passengers.
Name:Kasi
Email:kasi@fikernot.com
Message:How are 5 guys with a couple of grenades, kitchen knives and 2 or 3 pistols able to hold 160 people at bay? As the plane is on ground, I think some passsengers should take the matter into their own hands and tackle the 3 or 4 terrorists. One 'doctor' is in the cockpit always. It has to be remembered that, the terrorists are always edgy of some mis-adventure by the passengers. Terrorists don't have any super-human physical strength. A bunch of cool folks, who can think straight, should emerge as the real 'Black cats'- not the fake ones who are happy guarding the 'anghota chaaps'. NSG should be disbanded held responsible for this unpardonable blunder.
Name:Ivan D'Souza
Email:ivan_ds@hotmail.com
Message:Never give in to their demands. We brought them on their kness in Kargil. We can still do it in here. Let them know that Indians are no soft targets. The best way is to put enough international pressure on Pakistan and Taliban to get the hostages released, without getting the terriosts released.
Name:Ajit Ramaswamy
Email:ajitr@yahoo.com
Message:I like many others feel that the Indian Government should release the prisoner and save the lives of the innocent people still in the aircraft. My heart goes out to the helpless people stuck inside the aircraft as well as their relatives and friends.
Name:K K Chandarashekaran
Email:chandarashekaran@hotmail.com
Message:Despite the Catch-22 situation, our government is handling it well. I presume the Afgan government is not permitting us to take any serious commando operation in their soil. But, its high time we do something and resque our community. But leaving the Maulana is not a very good signal that we are going to give to the militants.
Name:Guru
Email:gdutt@rediffmail.com
Message:Hi All, Esp. relatives/parents of those on board: Have you all forgotten the Kargill Episode so quickly. The patriotism should come above all the things and for heaven sake do not plead to them for releasing the passengers. They should surrender to and they should be punished with nothing less than death penalty.. Whatever they have done in inhuman and unpardonable. Do not cave into Pak's designs to like doing such acts. The already reported inaction of NSG in resolving this crises should be taken seriously and the erring officials should be punished. Even if I was on-board I would not have asked for mercy from such cowards, who are using wrong means to acheive wrong deeds.
I have only one question for the govt.: Has the Govt. learnt anything from Kargil episode? Why so many intelligenece failures? Why wait for situation to improve(PVN Syndrome) by itself rather than acting with purpose to resolve the isuue? I, like many other die hard BJP supporters, had wished for stern action against Pak to resolve the Kashmir issue.. Is Pak's ISI superior to our intelligence? If so, what is being done to re-haul our intelligence? There should be some tangible outcomes to prove the effectiveness of our intelligence. It is a satire that Mr Sharad Yadav who was one of the cabinet minister in JD Ministry, which took the infamous historic decision re Rubina Sayeed, is the Civil Aviation Minister now!! Do not cave into Hijackers demands and do not plead mercy with them... Regards /Guru Dutt.G
Read what other readers said:
'Get into Afghanistan and kill the hijackers'
'The Govt should directly talk with the hijackers and release the passengers without succumbing to their demands'
'Distract the hijackers, storm the plane, shoot the criminals and rescue the hostages'
'An SOP must be in place, formulated without a second's delay'
'We should do an operation a la Entebbe whatever the consequences'
'The Govt should avail of all diplomatic means to get the passengers released'
'Please for God's sake save those 150 people'
'Never give in to terrorist demands'
'The real purpose seems to be to get international attention against India'
'I believe the government has a reason for dragging on the situation this long'
'They are killers and should be put down as rabid dogs are'
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