'Seems nothing has changed..': Captain Devi Sharan remembers 1999's Kandahar hijack
"They are roaming around in open jeeps with rocket launchers on Kabul streets, just like they did when they were surrounding our aircraft in Kandahar," Captain Devi Sharan said.
Air India Captain Devi Sharan was 37 years old when five masked men hijacked the airbus he was flying from Kathmandu to Delhi carrying 176 passengers in 1999. From Amritsar to Lahore to Dubai and then finally in Kandahar -- the captain was asked to take the plane to Taliban heartland. The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and after India agreed to release three terrorists -- Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Masood Azhar.
At that time, the Taliban were ruling Afghanistan and the Taliban fighters surrounded the Air India airbus when it was force-landed in Kandahar airport. With the fall of Kabul on August 15, the country is again in the grip of the Taliban. The gap of 20 years in which the group surreptitiously gained power has led to a narrative that Taliban 2.0 may not be as ruthless as the Taliban which reigned between 1996 and 2001. But for Captain Devi Sharan who had a first-hand experience in the land of the Taliban as a hostage, it is all the same. "People who have surrounded our aircraft weren't polished," he said to news agency ANI remembering the Kandahar hijack.
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"I don't think there is any difference between old and new Taliban. The only difference is that maybe now they are a little educated," the captain said.
"The kind of behaviour we faced 20 years ago, it is difficult to believe how the future will be. But definitely, we had a very bad time in Kandahar... That time they were not listening to us. Their only motive was that their demands were fulfilled. We knew that we cannot come out of the situation without accepting their demands," he said.
In 1999, the hijacked plane and people on board are the only people at Kandahar, but now one can see a crowd at the Kabul airport, Devi Sharan said. "Definitely, these people are desperate to come out just like we wanted to come out," he told news agency PTI.
"They are roaming around in open jeeps with rocket launchers on Kabul streets, just like they did when they were surrounding our aircraft in Kandahar. It was as if nothing has changed," Devi Sharan said.
Since their takeover of the country, the Taliban have been attempting an image makeover. As they reached Kabul onAugust 15, they announced that they would not capture Kabul by force. The Taliban have addressed a press conference early this week and said they want peaceful ties with all countries. There will be no revenge, women will have their rights in the new regime etc.
(With agency inputs)
