Jaishankar Reflects on 1984 Hijacking as Netflix Series on IC 814 Draws Attention

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar shared his personal connection to the 1984 hijacking, revealing his father was on the flight. This remark coincides with discussions around the Netflix series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack,' which has faced legal scrutiny for its portrayal of the 1999 incident.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday shared a personal anecdote related to the 1984 hijacking incident, revealing that his father was a passenger on the ill-fated flight. Jaishankar, who was part of the crisis management team then, made these remarks while interacting with the Indian community in Geneva.

"I haven't seen the film, so I don't want to comment. But I tell you something interesting which you may remember. In 1984, there was a hijack... I was a very young officer. I was part of the team that was dealing with it. After 3-4 hours of the hijacking, I rang up my mother to tell her that I can't come, there's a hijacking. I discovered that my father was on that flight. The flight ended up in Dubai. Fortunately, nobody got killed but it could have ended up wrongly," Jaishankar recounted.

The discussion coincided with the controversy surrounding the Netflix series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack,' based on the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Surjit Singh Yadav, Chief of Hindu Sena, seeking a ban on the series, was recently withdrawn after Netflix added a disclaimer clarifying the real identities of the terrorists involved. The PIL had alleged that the series misrepresented the terrorists by giving them Hindu names.

(With inputs from agencies.)