Book by Ashok Tandon, incharge of media relations in Vajpayee PMO, also narrates drama that unfolded at Palam airport when special plane was being dispatched during IC-814 hijack.
In the Opposition, the BJP always used flaming rhetoric about war and retribution. But when it came to power in the late 1990s, it was revealed as meek, confused, and caught off-guard.
With telling revelations, memoir, and account of history, Ajay Bisaria's Anger Management is a study of the diplomatic engagement between India and Pakistan.
In early 2000s, I saw a vehicle with speakers inviting people in Lahore to attend a gathering where Masood Azhar and other freed terrorists after the IC-814 hijack would speak about jihad.
Minutes after the IC 814 landed at Amritsar airport, makeshift communication was established between local authorities and CMG in Delhi—but lack of specific instructions botched the operation.
The IC-814 and Emergency controversies show we are still too thin-skinned to accept anything but deification of our leaders, biopics or biographies. This runs across the subcontinent.
In a 2003 interview with Shekhar Gupta, the late Brajesh Mishra, former national security adviser, reflects on how the week of IC 814 hijack & negotiations in December 1999 unfolded.
There's no evidence in existing declassified CIA documents to suggest if pressure was mounted on Islamabad to terminate hijacking plot or if New Delhi was given any specific warning.
In tactical terms, the shirtless protest was worse than a self-goal. Suddenly, the fiascos of the AI Summit were forgotten, and the Youth Congress’s disruption became the issue.
IAF is fine with accepting the aircraft with 'must-haves', even if some other steps remain pending, which may take at least another year, it is learnt.
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