Tag: Hijacking

THE SOUNDS OF INDIA

About: India is a messy, noisy democracy and life can literally take you from the lowest depths of the ocean to the highest mountain peaks. This is my commentary on the sounds made in the process. But, in this article, I digress slightly to write about superhero bravery in the Air by an Indian Pilot, and I return to the sound of India’s Election Commission fighting back on attempts to tarnish its name.

Unbelievable Heroism in the Air

This 30 September 2026, Flydubai, Flight FZ1073, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) Government-owned Airline based in Dubai, was on a regular flight from UAE’s Dubai to Israel’s, Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. It was a Boeing 737 MAX8 aircraft carrying 174 passengers – almost all Israeli – and 6 crew. The low-cost, non-stop flight normally takes about 3 hours and 25 minutes to reach Tel Aviv. The Captain and main Pilot was Indian National Smit Machchhar, and his co-pilot in the cockpit, was an Omani National Mohammed Hamam Al-Hammami.

The plane departed Dubai at about 6am local time flying west, towards Tel Aviv. About two hours into the flight, Hamam Al-Hammami told Smit Machchhar that he wanted to pray, and got up from his seat. This was not abnormal, and out of respect for the ‘praying’ co-pilot, Smit Machchhar kept looking forward, without turning around. After about five minutes a deadly blow landed on the back of his head sending him into a tizzy. For a moment he thought the aircraft itself had been hit: that something catastrophic had happened. Then the blows kept coming, one after another, and he understood it was the co-pilot who was repeatedly clobbering him with the cockpit emergency crash axe.

The blows blurred Smit Macchchhar’s vision almost completely. He blindly tried to stop the attacker, and could feel the aircraft pitching steeply downward; heard a whooshing sound and passengers screaming. He managed to open the cockpit door once; the co-pilot shut it again, and Smit ended up on the floor. Believing he would die if he did not act, he forced himself, in one last-ditch attempt, back to the door, twisted the inside knob, and opened it a second time, before collapsing. Passengers who sensed trouble, on the dive of the plane, had gathered outside the cockpit and when the door opened they quickly entered, for the rescue.

Captain Smit Machchhar later revealed that he kept chanting the Hindu hymn, Hanuman Chalisa, to keep him going during the brutal attack. The hymn is recited in praise of Lord Hanuman who symbolises strength, devotion, and courage.

In between, Smit managed to signal a General Emergency Code, squawk 7700 ‘general emergency’ before switching to squawk 7500 a code for reporting ‘unlawful interference (hijacking)’. Meanwhile, the aircraft which was cruising at an altitude of about 34,000 feet began rapidly losing altitude and turned sharply to the north. It descended 17,400 feet in just under two minutes.

A squawk is a four-digit International Civil Aviation Organization code that a pilot punches into an airplane’s transponder – that talks to the ground radar – so that Air Traffic Control can identify and track the flight. The word ‘squawk’ itself comes from the World War II identification-friend-or-foe system, code-named ‘Parrot.’During World War II, primary radar only showed a blip. It could not tell a friendly aircraft from an enemy one, which was a serious problem especially at night and on cloudy days. Britain developed an early Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system: a ground station sent an interrogation signal, and a set in the aircraft replied with a coded signal so the radar operator could mark it as friendly. The British system was code-named Parrot, because it ‘repeated’ the signal back, the way a parrot mimics sound.

One of the first to enter the cockpit was Israeli, Plumber by profession, Yaniv Hayun, who along with three other passengers subdued the co-pilot, put him in a chokehold and dragged him out of the cockpit, while he was shouting, “kill me, kill me”. Hayun then pulled the nose-up stick and steadied the diving plane, inspired by watching a TV show called ‘Air Crash Investigation’, which reconstructs real-life air disasters. Another passenger Dr. Shota Musaev, a Dentist and the only Doctor on board, along with others, tied the attacker up using headphone cords and plastic zip-ties. He then tended to the wounded pilot and this effort saved Smit’s life, who was by this time was bleeding profusely.

Two Flydubai pilots who were already on board as passengers-crew travelling to operate the return sector, often called ‘deadheading’-then took control of the plane. The flight briefly entered Jordanian airspace before looping back into Saudi Arabia and making an emergency landing at Tabuk Airport in north-western Saudi Arabia. A large part of the Aircraft’s tail was missing – the rudder was damaged presumably due to the extreme G-forces on the airframe.

This plane was orders of magnitude above the limits and beyond the calculated safety factors built into commercial aircraft and yet it managed to survive. This is genuinely a testament to the 737 Max and modern carbon composite airframes. US President Donald Trump was quick to call Boeing, “A Great Aircraft”. In virtually every historical incident where an airliner got anywhere close to these speeds the tail ripped off the entire rear of the plane. The inherent strength of the airframe is genuinely unbelievable, as are the excellent piloting skills of the Pilots who pulled it out of the dive, which recovery is as impressive as Captain Sully’s famous landing on the River Hudson.

Captain Smit’s skull was broken in the axe attack and he underwent emergency treatment in Saudi Arabia, where doctors reconstructed his skull, before he was flown to the UAE for intensive treatment.

He later spoke to Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi who hailed him as a hero, who acted with the greatest possible courage in saving lives and in avoiding what could have been a unimaginable disaster.

Call it a case of ‘Risk Migration’, that for 25 years, regulators have designed the aircraft cockpit door to stay shut and even had it reinforced after the 9/11 US Twin Tower suicide attacks. On Flight FZ1073, the outcome depended on its opening.

The co-pilot Mohammed Hamam Al-Hammami, 29 years old, was a radicalised Islamic jihadi who was previously sacked by Air-Oman in 2024–2025 for his extremist views and ideology, for regularly browsing extremist websites and expressing support for the Islamic State, jihad, and anti-non-Muslim sentiments during conversations with colleagues. It is absolutely clear that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination and should never have been on that plane.

He seems to have been hired by FlyDubai without a background check. It never checked with Oman Air where he had worked there for about eight months.

His mother is of Syrian origin, and father is Omani. He visited Pakistan in August 2026 and Turkey in May 2026. His diary notes contained praise for several terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and Maulana Masood Azhar.

At the time he was a trainee first officer at Oman’s national carrier. The ban came in 2024, and he was moved into an administrative role. He left the airline in February 2025.

Hamam Al-Hammami filmed El Al and Arkia planes at Dubai Airport on 11 October 2023, just four days after the deadly 7th October attacks on Israel. He intended to carry out a terror attack by crashing a plane into Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and planned the attack for months before FlyDubai hired him. “I searched and checked which company flies to Tel Aviv, and that’s why I chose Flydubai,” he said. He had planned to carry out the attack during an earlier flight, in July, but aborted the plan when he learnt that a crew member he knew was on board. A backup plan involved crashing the flight into a United States military base in Jordan.

One of the main questions being looked into is how the flight included a pilot from a country with which Israel does not have diplomatic relations.

Captain Smit sustained what doctors called a ‘depressed skull fracture-when a piece of skull has been pressed inward towards the brain it protects. During surgery Doctors made a careful incision to lift the pressed-in fragment, checked the protective membrane around the brain for tears and repaired/reconstructed damages. He is recovering and says he wants to fly again. Smit lives in Dubai with his wife Sonal Machchhar and two children. The 38 years old Captain has over 9750 flying hours including about 6400 hours as pilot-in command.

The outstanding act of Captain Smit Machchhar’s bravery will live on for time to come. It would have been an entirely different story if the plane with all 180 people on board had crashed into Israel or perhaps was shot-down as a defensive mechanism. And this was just a few days away from the anniversary of the brutal Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 when 1200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

One simple act of courage can mean so much and it conks all of us on the head to be alert, mindful, and show the best in us when the stakes are high. Meanwhile, conspiracy theories do the rounds – best left to people’s pig-headed imagination. Did this kind not say that the Man’s first landing on the moon was staged in a studio?

Election Commission of India

Once upon a time, from India’s independence in August 1947 up to 1990, the Election Commission of India (ECI)operated as a hand-maiden of the party ruling at the Centre- mostly the Indian National Congress. If Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts thundered, ‘off with their heads’, and heads rolled, India’s then Government(s) decided when to hold an Election and the ECI meekly obeyed.

Those were the days of stupendous election malpractices such as, booth-capturing, bribing and intimidating voters, impersonation, intoxicating voters with the ‘spirts of Ireland and Scotland’ -not to mention local, legal (and often illegal) brews- to keep them on a high, use of Government funds and machinery… a long list.

Why, India’s first Prime Minister(PM), Jawaharlal Nehru lost 0 – 12 to Sardar Vallabhai Patel and yet was made PM by Mahatma Gandhi, overruling the voting by members of the State Congress Committees. Hey Ram, that was the earliest instance of, call it Election malpractice, or stealing of votes to manifest one man’s idea! And Elections rolled on, unchecked in a way.

Indelible Ink-usually applied on the index finger of a voter to mark his/her having voted-was first introduced during the 1962 General Elections, and it brought some checks & balances into vote-cheating. Never mind the ink, Jawaharlal Nehru served as PM from 15 August 1947 until his death in May 1964 – 16 years and 286 days.

Then in December 1990, an ex-Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer, T N Seshan was appointed Chief Election Commissioner(CEC)- the 10th. He boldly overhauled the ECI bringing in much-needed, vital, path-breaking Electoral Reforms such as, introducing Voter Identification, enforcing election model code of conduct, limiting campaign expenses, etc. In fact, he did nothing but dust off and implement existing Rules. And ever since, subsequent CECs have built upon that foundation to make the ECI one of the best in the World in conducting elections. A mean machine delivering election after election, all these years, without interference from the Government.

Originally, the ECI had only a Chief Election Commissioner – hence the malleability. It currently consists of the CEC and two ‘plain’ Election Commissioners. In a first, two additional Commissioners were appointed in October 1989, but faced ‘sudden death’ in January 1990. Later, in October 1993, two Commissioners were again appointed and the three-member Commission has stuck ever since, with decision-making being unanimous, or in the event of disagreements among the three, deciding by a majority vote.

Over to a slice of history: The fiercely independent, ‘James Bond of the ECI’, T N Seshan famously challenged the equal status of the two other Election Commissioners who were added midway during his tenure from 1990 to 1996. The Supreme Court ruled, in 1996, that all three members hold equal voting power.

The next step in ensuring squeaky-clean elections in India was the introduction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). These are stand-alone, battery-powered machines that use write-once-read-many memory. This is basically an immutable system where, once data is recorded, the storage medium permanently locks the information so that it cannot be altered or overwritten – no edits or deletions can be done. They do not require network connectivity, and have no wireless or wired components that connect to the internet. The EVMs had iron-clad security features such as locking mechanisms, limits on the rate of voting per minute, and verification of thumb impressions.

Prior to electronic voting, paper ballots were used and counting was done manually. Printing paper ballots was expensive, required substantial resources and time to count. And was susceptible to fraudulent practices such as the use of pre-filled fake ballots. With the coming of the EVMs, elections costs reduced significantly, besides shortening the time required to count votes.

EVMs were first put-to-test in May 1982 in the By-Election of Paravur Assembly Constituency in Kerala in a limited number of polling stations. Nothing changes easily in India, and the use of EVMs was promptly challenged. The case found its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that existing Rules specified only the usage of paper ballots and forbade the use of any new methods, including electronic voting. And that the manner in which the orders were issued for the use of EVMs was unconstitutional, and the usage of any alternate means must be specified under the Law. This called for an Amendment to the old Rules, which was passed by India’s Parliament in December 1988 and came into force in March 1989. Subsequently, in March 1992, necessary Rules changes were made to legally permit the usage of electronic voting. However, deployment was delayed as a general consensus could not be reached among the various political parties.

In the year 1998, EVMs were used on an experimental basis across 25 State Assembly constituencies during the Assembly Elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. Result: It was an instant hit and declared an ‘unqualified success’.

In May 2001, EVMs were used in all constituencies for the State Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal. In 2004, in the General Election, the EVMs were used in all 543 Parliamentary Constituencies for the first time. Since then, all State Assembly and Parliamentary Elections were held using EVMs.

To further plug loopholes in the system, in 2013, the Supreme Court directed the ECI to include a paper trail to help verify the vote cast using the EVMs. The ECI then developed EVMs with a Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), which was tested for the first time in the 2014 General Elections. This closed the door on any doubts about the EVMs.

Now, the focus shifted to the voter himself, the Electoral Rolls – who actually votes?

Riding on the long road of Elections, today the ECI is facing a major credibility crisis- in another dimension- over its nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls. This is an exercise periodically undertaken by the ECI to verify and revise Electoral Rolls through house-to-house enumeration, pre-filled forms, and verification of old data. A nationwide SIR process was announced on 27 October 2025; the previous SIR was carried out between 2002 and 2004 – about 20 years ago. And even before that, there were eight SIRs conducted.

For about a year now, Gyanesh Kumar, India’s CEC, has been under intense political pressure over the sweeping revision of the country’s Electoral Rolls under the SIR. The exercise, which began in the State of Bihar last year, has since been extended to cover most of India and more than 13 crore names – mostly dead, shifted to another location, or duplicate – have been struck from draft voter lists across 30 States and Union Territories – roughly 13% of India’s electorate.

The SIR process was challenged by the Opposition Parties (probably, fearing the loss of votes of dead voters – in those days even the dead voted!) in India’s Supreme Court. In May 2026, the Court supremely upheld the legitimacy of SIR and ruled it to be in consonance with India’s Constitution and that the ECI has a constitutional obligation to conduct free and fair elections.

The ECI explained that the SIR is intended to remove duplicate and ineligible entries while ensuring legitimate voters are included. Opposition parties and activists claimed that it disenfranchised eligible voters. The ECI outright rejected accusations that the process is being manipulated for political ends.

This September 2026, an Indian Express Newspaper investigation by journalist Ritika Chopra reported that other two Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded written dissent at least 14 times, over 10 months. This was to decisions supposedly taken without their knowledge-including ‘unauthorised changes to Form 6’, for new voters and centralisation of voter data.

Since the SIR has deleted over 13 crore names from draft rolls, opposition parties cried that this was done unilaterally by CEC Gyanesh Kumar in a way that disproportionately affected minorities, the poor, and young voters. And they demanded his resignation. Protests to this effect were organised in the national Capital.

The ECI released a statement that all decisions were unanimous and lawful and any objections-made out as dissent notes-were merely suggestions in the course of a normal day’s work. It has ordered a software review, eased some verification processes, extended deadlines in certain States, and removed the disputed Form 6 Declaration in States where SIR is completed. It unequivocally said that even ‘a comma’ of Form 6 has not been changed.

Lets go deeper into the meat of the matter.

Form 6 is a statutory application form used by eligible Indian citizens to apply for inclusion in India’s Electoral Rolls. These may be first-time voters who turn 18 years of age, or others who have never enrolled themselves for voting. It requires basic details such as personal information, proof of age and residence, and declarations regarding citizenship and non-registration elsewhere. The form itself is straight-jacketed, prescribed by Rules that can only be amended by the Central Government after consulting the ECI, and notified in the Official Gazette-subject to parliamentary approval.

A controversy arose during the ECI’s SIR of Bihar. The ECI introduced an additional declaration to be submitted along with the ‘untouched’ Form 6 for SIR-related applications. This was not part of the printed/downloadable statutory Form 6, but was added to the online version on the ECINET (online) portal.

Key elements of the declaration involved focus on birth details and supporting documents (one of a list of documents to establish date/place of birth for the applicant and, depending on birth year brackets parents). Later versions (from around July 2026 onward on the online portal) shifted emphasis to linkage with the previous SIR rolls (from the early 2000s in many places). Applicants were asked to choose among options such as, their own name appeared in the last SIR roll; a parent’s or grandparent’s name appeared; neither appeared.

Selecting the first or second option required providing details such as the Assembly constituency, polling booth/part number, and serial number (and sometimes related identifiers like EPIC number or relationship). The field was not always marked mandatory, but online submission could not proceed without completing it. False statements carried warnings of penalties-up to one year imprisonment, fine, or both.

The ECI maintained that Form 6 itself was never amended: only an additional SIR specific declaration was attached for the duration of the exercise; the Bihar SIR order (including the initial declaration) had the full Commission’s approval and was upheld by the Supreme Court in its 27 May 2026 judgment; the declaration was an additional requirement, not a change to Form 6, and that ordinary statutory forms apply outside SIR periods.

On 5 October 2026, the Chief Justice of India clarified that the Court had not approved any modified Form 6. The bench said it would examine ECI records to determine who authorised any changes and what exactly was modified.

The ECI reiterated that it had not altered the original Form 6 and that the SIR declaration was separate; it also issued fact-checks describing certain opposition claims as misleading. It withdrew the additional declaration from the online portal in states where SIR had concluded, while it continued in places where the exercise was ongoing.

The ECI continues to distinguish between the unchanged statutory Form 6 and temporary SIR-linked additional requirements. Critics focus on the lack of formal rule amendment, internal objections, practical burdens on new voters, and the precise scope of what the Court previously upheld.

Whether attaching the SIR declaration (especially in its later online form) amounted to an unauthorised or illegal amendment of the statutory Form 6 is contested-internally within the ECI, by opposition parties and some former officials, and in petitions before the Supreme Court. No final judicial determination that it was illegal has been made; the matter is pending examination of the records and the validity of the specific requirements.

In these circumstances, it’s worthwhile to dig into the career of the CEC-Gyanesh Kumar. What does he bring to the table – to the ballot?

For most of his 36-year career in India’s bureaucracy, the 62-year-old Gyanesh Kumar built a reputation for getting difficult things done. Now he faces a rather different challenge: defending how his own institution makes decisions.

Gyanesh Kumar hails from the State of Uttar Pradesh. He completed his BTech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur (one of the very best in the country) and then pursued Business Finance at the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India before studying Environmental Economics at Harvard University, USA. He cleared the Civil Services Exam and entered the IAS in 1988, in the Kerala State cadre.

He began his career as an Assistant Collector in Ernakulam, then Sub-Collector of Adoor, followed Secretary of the Kerala Public Works Department. Leaving Kerala, he became Joint Secretary in the Department of Defence Production Secretary in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Co-operation.

In 2016, Gyanesh Kumar joined the Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) division of the Home Ministry. Three years later, in 2019, he was involved in drafting the J&K Reorganisation Bill which culminated in revoking Article 370 (recall, this gave J&K a special status, disjointed from the rest of India). J&K was bifurcated into two distinct Union territories: J&K – with a Legislative Assembly, and Ladakh – without a Legislative Assembly, hence directly administered by the Central Government.

In 2019, India’s Supreme Court cleared the way for a temple of Lord Ram to be built in Ayodhya at a site that had been disputed by Hindus and Muslims for decades. Gyanesh Kumar, who was then an additional secretary in the Home Ministry, headed the team responsible for implementing the court’s ruling, including setting up the Trust that would oversee the temple’s construction.

The assignments were very different, but both demanded a particular bureaucratic skill of taking decisions of enormous political consequence and working out how the machinery of government would put them into effect. Gyanesh Kumar retired from the Civil Services in January 2024. Less than two months later, he was appointed an Election Commissioner – a day before the timetable for India’s general election was announced. In February 2025, he became Chief Election Commissioner.

He was the first CEC appointed by the President of India under a new law in 2023 in which a three-member Selection Committee recommended a name to the President of India. A Search Committee headed by the Union Law Minister shortlists five candidates, which it puts forward to the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee consisting of the Prime Minister (Chairperson), Leader of the Opposition, and a Union Cabinet Minister(nominated by the PM) makes a final choice by majority vote.

In February 2025, Gyanesh Kumar was selected by such a panel, consisting of Narendra Modi- PM, Amit Shah-Union Home Minister, and Rahul Gandhi- Leader of the Opposition. Only Rahul Gandhi opposed Kumar’s appointment (he even asked for it to be deferred while the Supreme Court considered challenges to the new law). But the majority vote saw Gyanesh Kumar through.

The ECI is one of India’s best autonomous Institutions handling the awfully difficult task of conducting Elections, and it is being besmirched by a kind of people who want a return to the old ballot system in which they have been swimming all the years and presumably won Elections on their choice.

Three Cheers to Captain Smit Machchhar- for showing exemplary bravery and indomitable spirit in the skies; and to the Election Commission Of India – for working hard in the cesspool of Indian Politics to clean India’s dirty Electoral Rolls, where draining the swamp isn’t an option.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-36

About: the world this week, 1 September to 7 September 2024: Dead Hostages; Russia rains missiles; US School shooting; Bangladesh festers; Indian plane hijack story – true and false; Sexual Assault in India-Hema Committee Report; Paralympics 2024 – India sprints

Everywhere

War World

The unhinged brutality unleashed by Hamas goes on. Israel Forces found the bodies of six hostages, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Sergeant Ori Danino, in a tunnel in Gaza. They were all taken hostage on 7 October 2023, and murdered by Hamas terrorists, in captivity: shot in point-blank range in the back of the head, about 48 hours before they were found. Heart-breaking and gut-wrenching agony.

Israelis poured out on the streets demanding their Government do better. And go for a ceasefire to get back the remaining hostages. In this darkest hour, US President Joe Biden rubbed salt into festering wounds, saying Israel’s PM is not doing enough. And Britain ordered certain arms supplies to Israel be stopped. Israel was devastated – punished for no fault of theirs. And what are allies for? Later, the US called on Britain to cancel its decision to freeze 30 arms export licenses to Israel.

In the other war, Russia this week launched one of its deadliest strikes on Ukraine. A Russian missile strike hit a military educational institute and a nearby hospital- killing at least 50 people and injuring more than 200. The attack happened in the city Poltava, about 300 km southeast of Kyiv. Ukraine said the ballistic missiles hit their targets within minutes of each other-giving people little time to find shelter after the sirens were sounded. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that Russia will be held accountable.

United States School Shooting

This week in the United States, there was yet another school shooting incident-and the first mass campus shooting since the start of the school year. A 14-year old boy, Colt Gray, killed two fellow students, two teachers, and wounded nine others in shooting spree at Georgia’s Apalachee High School, in Winder. Colt Gray was armed with a semi-automatic weapon. After the shooting, he was quickly confronted by school deputies and immediately got on the ground and surrendered. A motive is yet to be established.

Bangladesh: Off a Tangent?

Bangladesh under its interim leader Muhammad Yunus is walking on water. The Nobel Laureate sought to downplay the issue of attacks on minority Hindus in his country calling it ‘exaggerated’ and questioned the manner in which India projected it. He had this to say, “I have said this (to India’s Prime Minister), also that this is exaggerated. This issue has several dimensions. When the country went through an upheaval following the atrocities by (Sheikh) Hasina and the Awami League, those who were with them also faced attacks”. Quick on the heels of ‘this exaggeration’ was shock and outrage in Bangladesh after a 17-year-old Hindu boy was lynched in front of soldiers and police. Utsav Mondal was accused of blasphemy by Islamists following a response to another boy who castigated Hindu practices. He entered a police station for protection, but the mob followed and beat him to death – Law enforcement watched, and did nothing.

Hijacking a True Story

The True Story

On 24th December, Christmas Eve, in the year 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC 814, from Kathmandu to New Delhi with 178 passengers and 11 crew members on board, was hijacked shortly after take-off from Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport, by five armed terrorists, belonging to the Pakistan-based militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. The terrorists were, Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir.

The hijackers initially demanded the release of 36 militants held in Indian jails, along with USD 200 million in cash and the remains of a deceased militant, Sajjad Afghani – who was arrested in 1994 and killed in July 1999 while trying to escape prison. The hijackers forced the plane to change its course multiple times, initially diverting it to Amritsar, India, then to Lahore, Pakistan, and later to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where 27 passengers were released. Eventually, on the morning of 25th December, the aircraft left Dubai and landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which was then under Taliban control. Kandahar had one serviceable runway, a sort of Air Traffic Control, and a couple of shanties. The rest of the airport was in a shambles, without power and water supply – under Taliban rule.

While in Amritsar, the hijackers, anticipating a commando action, first stabbed a passenger (to death), Rupin Katyal – who was just-married and on his honeymoon with his wife, in Kathmandu- to show that they meant business, and then forced the pilot to take off.

After final negotiations, on 31 December 1999, India agreed to release three high-profile militants: Maulana Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Sayeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar in exchange for the release of the remaining passengers and crew members. All other demands stayed still-born. The hijackers, however, were allowed to escape to Pakistan, where they remained at large (Later, some of them were knocked-off by ‘unknown men’).

The Netflix Series: IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack

Indian Filmmaker, Anubhav Sinha’s IC 814 – The Kandahar Hijack, a six-episode mini-series streaming on Netflix, has been hauled over the coals for not sticking to facts. It is not just about the names of the five IC 814 hijackers, passengers of that flight, others-in-the-know have called out the series for several inconsistencies, including the role of ISI, Indian Intelligence and the portrayal of the hijackers.

At the top of the list is the failure to highlight the real names of the terrorists, which seemed to be a bid to conceal the fact that the hijackers were Islamic terrorists. In the series, the hijackers are referred to as Chief, Doctor, Burger, Bhola, and Shankar. Many on social media expressed anger and frustration over the names Bhola and Shankar, accusing the filmmaker, of deliberately choosing Hindu names for the hijackers, rather than their actual Muslim names. Reports say that Bhola and Shankar were codenames used by two of the hijackers during the actual hijack.

There was a shrill outburst on social media and other forums, following which Netflix agreed to put a declaimer and mention the actual names. In mounting anger, many deleted their subscription of Netflix for its anti-Hindu bias in a ‘Boycott Netflix’ trend.

Sexual Assault in Kerala: Hema Committee Report

In the year 2017, on 17th February, a popular Malayalam Actress was abducted by five unidentified men, while returning from a film shoot, near Kochi, Kerala State. She was sexually assaulted in a moving car for over two hours, and the men filmed the assault. Later, they dropped off the actress at noted Malayalam Actor-Director Lal’s (M P Michael) residence. Lal insisted that the Actress-the Survivor-inform the Police and file a case. And the Police began investigations.

The actress identified a Pulsar Suni, who worked as a driver for several celebrities, as one of the assaulters. The investigations ran deep and revealed that Malayalam Actor Dileep had orchestrated the attack to ‘teach the Survivor a lesson’.

Dileep was married to Actress Manju Warrier from 1998 to 2015. After the Wedding, Manju quit acting, despite her own flourishing career, while Dileep’s fame reached superstar status. In 2015, Dileep and Manju Warrier divorced, the apparent reason being Dileep’s affair with Actress Kavya Madhavan, which was reportedly broken to Manju by the Survivor. In their messy divorce, the Survivor took Manju’s side, and they have remained close friends. Then in the year 2016, Dileep and Kavya married. The story is that Dileep planned the entire assault in revenge -to settle scores with the Survivor- and filmed the assault so that he could blackmail her.

After the Survivor identified herself on social media, the Film industry witnessed a major upheaval, which led to the formation of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC). The WCC filed a petition to investigate the challenges faced by women in the Malayalam film industry following the heinous sexual assault on the Survivor. Based on their petition and following public outcry, the Government of Kerala established a three-member committee – the Justice Hema Committee – in February 2017. This was headed by retired Justice K Hema – the committee was named after its head. It also had on board former Actress Sharada, and retired IAS officer K B Valsala Kumari.

The Justice Hema Committee submitted its report to the Kerala Government on 31 December 2019. The report, was kept under wraps for five years, and certain sensitive portions were redacted to protect individual privacy. It was argued that publishing the report in totality would harm the industry. Finally, the findings were made public on 19th August 2024. The Report took the country by storm disclosing instances of sexual harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam film industry. The original report had 295 pages, but 63 pages were redacted before its release under the Right to Information Act (RTI), as widespread repercussions were expected.

The Hema Committee Report has revealed horrid tales of sexual abuse, illegal bans, discrimination, drug and alcohol abuse, wage disparity, and inhuman working conditions, especially for women. The Cinema industry is male-dominated and has become an exclusive Boys’ Club. In particular, the Malayalam film industry is under the control of a powerful lobby of male producers, directors, and actors who ‘dominate other persons’ working in cinema. The report describes the situation in cinema as ‘very shocking’.

The Report has identified at least 17 forms of exploitation experienced by women working in 30 different categories within the Industry. It emphasised that women were being asked to make certain ‘adjustments’ and ‘compromises’ – euphemisms for sexual favours – to secure or retain opportunities. It added, that these two words are very familiar among women working in Malayalam cinema, who ‘are asked to make themselves available for sex on demand’. The ‘Casting Couch’ syndrome?

Several Malayalam female actors and junior artists have accused Directors, Actors, and an Actor-turned MLA of sexual harassment, and misconduct.

On 27 August 2024, following the release of the Hema Committee report, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) dissolved its entire executive committee for the period 2024–2027 and resigned ‘en masse’. Actor Mohanlal, who had by then secured his second term as President of AMMA, was the head of the executive committee, which decided to step down. Mohanlal was criticised for having ‘lost his ability to respond’.

The Oscar Wilde quote, ‘Life imitates art far more than art imitates life’, finds mention in the Report. How Kerala and its film industry reacted to the shocking actress abduction and assault case in 2017 could also be extrapolated of the dictum.

With much focus on sexual assault and rape in India, in recent times, how are other countries, say France, doing?

Sex & France

In a horrifying story coming out of France, a man, Dominique Pelicot, is on trial, accused of using sleeping pills to drug his wife of 50 years, in order to rape, facilitate, and film her rape by at least 51 other men. The abuse went on for nearly a decade, without the woman’s knowledge.

This awfully disturbing case has igniting scrutiny-peeling off layers-over how France handles and defines sexual assault. Under the country’s laws, rape is officially defined as an ‘act of sexual penetration’ committed through ‘violence, coercion, threat, or surprise.’ Legal experts say the wording should specifically and explicitly name that without consent, sex is rape, and that consent can be withdrawn at any time. They also advocate for laws to clarify that consent isn’t possible if a sexual assault occurs when someone is in a state ‘impairing’ their judgment.

Offenders find enough loopholes to penetrate sexual assault laws, and France isn’t alone. Earlier this year, New York lawmakers attempted to pass a bill that would prohibit those on trial for rape from using a survivor’s voluntary intoxication as part of their legal defense, but it has been held up in the state assembly. Marital rape wasn’t deemed a crime in all 50 states of the United States until 1993. Even post ‘Me Too’ numerous issues remain in the language of sexual assault laws. Many hope that the ongoing trial in France will draw attention to the use of drugs to facilitate abuse and highlight problems around legal language – and that the verdict has outcomes that reverberate internationally.

Paralympics 2024: India’s Medal Sprint

India appears to develop its best fighting spirit when handicapped: excelling in para athletics. What the normal Olympic team could not, it being done by the Paralympic Team, to acclaim. It’s raining medals for India in the Paris Paralympics 2024. That’s a lot of healing.

Previously, India won 31 medals across Paralympic Games with the most successful Paralympics being Tokyo 2020, with a haul of 19 medals – five gold, eight silver and six bronze. This time, India has-up to this Friday-won 27 medals with six gold, nine silver, and twelve bronze medals, which is India’s highest ever medal tally in a single Paralympic Games.

Kumar Nitesh won the country’s second gold medal (the first was by Avani Lekhara, in shooting) in the men’s singles badminton. Sumit Antil became the first Indian male athlete to win back-to-back gold medals in the same event after his victory in the men’s javelin throw. He also set two Paralympic records in the process with throws of 68.55 m in Tokyo and 70.59 m in Paris. Nishad Kumar and Yogesh Kathuniya won silver medals in the men’s high jump and the men’s discus throw respectively, in a repeat of their Tokyo 2020 performance. Thulasimathi Murugesan won the only Indian silver medal in women’s badminton. Suhas Yathiraj won a silver medal for the second consecutive Games in the men’s singles para-badminton event. Ajeet Singh Yadav and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the silver and bronze medals respectively in the men’s javelin throw. This was Gurjar’s second medal after he finished third in the same event in the previous Games. Sharad Kumar won his second Paralympic medal, a silver in the men’s high jump. Sachin Khilari won India’s fifth athletics silver medal, finishing second in the men’s shot-put.

Preethi Pal who won India’s first ever track medal in athletics by winning a bronze medal in the women’s 100 m became the only Indian multi-medalist in the Games after she won her second bronze in the women’s 200 event. Rubina Francis won India’s fourth shooting medal with a bronze in the women’s 10 m Air-pistol event. Sheetal Devi became the youngest Indian Paralympic medalist, at 17 years, after she won a bronze medal in the compound archery event along with Rakesh Kumar. Manisha Ramadass and Nithya Sivan won bronze medals in women’s badminton events to take the Indian medal tally in the badminton events to five. Deepthi Jeevanji won the bronze medal in the women’s 400 m race and became the youngest – at 21 years – Indian track medalist at the Paralympic Games.

Mariyappan Thangavelu won the bronze medal in the Men’s High Jump event making it three consecutive medals wins in three editions of the Paralympics: bronze this year 2024, silver in 2020 and gold in 2016. Mariyappan is the son of a daily wage-earner in Tamilnadu At the age of five, he suffered permanent disability when he was run over by a drunk bus driver while walking to school: his right leg was crushed below the knee, causing it to become stunted. Despite this setback, he completed secondary schooling and pursued sports.

Dharambir set an Asian Record of 34.92 m to win the country’s fifth gold in the men’s club throw final, equalling that in Tokyo. In the same event, Pranav Soorma won silver with a throw of 34.59m. Praveen Kumar won India its sixth gold medal in the men’s high jump clearing 2.08m. He won his second consecutive Para Games medal, improving upon a silver in the previous edition in Tokyo. Kapil Parmar won India’s 25th medal – a bronze -in the men’s -60kg Judo, a first for India.

Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to win gold beating Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in men’s recurve open final. He had won bronze in the same event in Tokyo 2020. Harvinder, 33, is pursuing a PhD in Economics. When he was about one-and-half years old, he contracted Dengue Fever and due to a medical mishap lost proper movement of both his legs, permanently impairing his mobility.

The Paris Paralympics features 4,400 athletes from around the world competing in 549 medal events across 22 sports, and concludes on 8 September 2024.

More revealing stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Stay covered with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-22

About: the world this week, 23rd May to 30th May 2021, flying and surviving.

Everywhere

‘Plain’ State Hijacking

On 23rd May, Ryanair Flight FR4978, a Boeing-737 with 171 people on board was on a routine flight from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius in Lithuania. While briefly in the airspace of Belarus, and on the verge of beginning its descent into Vilnius, it suddenly changed direction and landed in Minsk, capital of Belarus, escorted by a Belarus military MIG29 jet. This was despite the fact Vilnius was the nearest Airport, for an emergency landing.

The Ryanair crew was brought to speed about a possible security risk-a bomb on the plane, set-off to explode over Vilnius: the tense situation forcing the Captain to declare an emergency and land in Minsk, as directed by the Belarus Air Traffic Controllers.

Turns out that the ‘bomb’ was actually 26 years old Belarusian journalist and Opposition Activist Roman Protasevich who lives in exile in Lithuania. He is on a ‘Wanted List’, on a variety of charges and was conveniently on the plane. As soon as the plane landed he was promptly arrested, along with his Russian girlfriend-who was travelling with him-by the Belarus Interior Ministry. A bomb squad, including dogs, went through the motions of trying to sniff other kinds of bombs on the plane.

The ‘bomb’ order was given by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, a brutal and unpredictable leader who has been fending of Opposition protests, clinging to power, since claiming victory in last year’s hotly-contested election, widely condemned by many countries.

The forced diversion of the Ryanair Plane was quickly branded as a case of ‘State Hijacking’ and called as utterly unacceptable and outrageous, by the European Union, the United States, and other Countries.

Roman and fellow dissident Stepan Putilo co-founded the opposition Nexta Channel on the messaging platform, Telegram, which was used for mobilising street protests against the Lukashenko Regime, in Belarus. Nexta and Nexta-Live have nearly two million subscribers. They manage to get round heavy State censorship and reach out to people.

Roman Protasevich faces serious charges of organising mass riots and group action against the 26-year rule of President Lukashenko, that grossly violate public order, and Rules of the Land. He faces a possible death penalty.

Beginning to smell like Myanmar of a different kind. Terrorists and cold-blooded hijackers are lying and flying low: the State is warming-up, flying high, and filling-in?

Myanmar Paralysis

Every week I struggle to find words to headline what’s happening in Myanmar.

This week more than 125,000 school teachers-that’s about 29% of all school teachers in Myanmar-were suspended for joining the civil disobedience movement opposing the military coup that overthrew the country’s elected government this February.

The suspensions have come days before the start of a new school year, which some teachers and parents are boycotting as part of a campaign that has paralysed the country since the military seized power.

Myanmar’s education system is one of the poorest in the region, and ranked 92nd of 93 countries in a global survey last year. The spending on education is below 2% of GDP.

Many parents are seriously considering not to send their children to a school run by the Military Dictatorship. We need no education: more to learn on the ground?

Samoa: Democracy in a Tent

Samoa is a Polynesain Island country consisting of two main islands and several other smaller islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The capital city is Apia. The nearest countries around are New Zealand, Australia, and Papua New Guinea.

Early this week, Samoa’s first female Prime Minister, and a former Deputy Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, was sworn into office in a tent set-up in the Parliament Gardens, after she found herself locked out of Parliament by her opponent. She was administered the oath of office by the country’s Chief Justice.

Her opponent, the China-leaning, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, the incumbent prime minister for 22 years, had ignored a court order to step down and cede power. Instead, he nudged his Party to lock-down Parliament Building, causing the ugly scene. He is the world’s second longest serving prime minister and does not seem to have had enough of it.

The controversy comes a month after the closest run general election in Samoa’s history, which was followed by bitter disputes and legal challenges. Malielegaoi’s Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) was ousted from power after four decades by Mata’afa’s FAST (Faatuataua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi – meaning, Faith in one God of Samoa) Party. Both parties won 25 seats each, but a single independent Member of Parliament (MP) broke the tie in favour of the FAST.

That led to legal manoeuvring by the HRPP, which claimed its opponents had not correctly met the quota of female MPs. Samoa’s Election Commission revoked the results of the April vote and called for a fresh election on 21st May. But five days ahead of the re-run, the Samoa’s Supreme Court ruled against the HRPP, re-endorsing the results of the election and ordered the swearing-in of Mata’afa to go ahead.

After serving as Polynesia’s first female Deputy Prime Minister Mata’afa’s success in the general election makes her only the second woman in the region to head a government. She is the daughter of the country’s first prime minister, and has been in active politics since the mid 1980s. Looks like she brings a lot to the tent.

Manu Siva Tau is a traditional Samoan war dance often performed by Samoan sporting teams before a match. Only this time the theme has been usurped by Political Parties, and they continue to dance even after the match! Meanwhile, the faith in God needs to work.

That poor fellow ‘Democracy’, is being hotly-contested, furiously challenged, kicked-around, rubber-bulleted, tear-gassed, and shot, all around the World. Yet surviving (for want of a better alternative?).

Enter The Devil

This week, ‘Devils’ were born on the Australian mainland for the first time in more than 3000 years, after they died out, to extinction, in the mainland. Seven baby Tasmanian Devils-known as joeys-were born at the 988 acre Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary in New South Wales.

Female Devils give birth to between 20 and 40 joeys at a time, which then race to the mother’s pouch containing only four teats. First come first served! Only those that make it to the pouch and drink the juice of life, survive. After around three months of drinking, they walk out of the pouch, into the world of Angels, and other Devils.

The Tasmanian Devil is the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial (having a baby pouch-like the Kangaroo) reaching about 2.5 feet in length and tipping the scales at over 12 kilograms. They have a coat of coarse brown or black fur and a stocky profile that gives them the appearance of a baby bear. Most have a white stripe or patch on their chest and light spots on their sides or rear. They have long front legs and shorter rear legs, giving them a pig-like gait. Their oversized head has a mouth full of sharp teeth and strong muscular jaws that can deliver one of the most powerful bites for any animal.

They earned the name ‘Devil’ from their hyena-like teeth, and aggressive posturing, releasing spine-chilling guttural growls when threatened, defending a meal, or fighting for a mate.

Once abundant throughout Australia, they are now found only on the Australian owned island of Tasmania with over 25,000 of them in the wild. Their extinction on the mainland could be due to the introduction of Asian Dogs-or Dingoes- into Australia. However, their numbers suffered another knock-out blow from a contagious form of cancer known as Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), which has killed around 90% of the population since it was first discovered in 1996. The rare contagious cancer causes large lumps to form around the animal’s mouth and head making it extremely difficult to eat-the animal eventually starves to death.

The Devils are native apex predators and also scavengers. This means their reintroduction will help control the population of feral cats and foxes that hunt other endangered species, while their scavenging skills will keep the environment clean and free from disease.

Australia needs every kind of animal to do its job. Last week I talked about mice overrunning the mainland. Now they are getting started with the Devils.

A known Devil is better than an unknown Angel? Only time will tell!

India Fights Back

When highly developed countries were battered by waves of the coronavirus and had equal or worse situations, India with its starving healthcare system struggling to breathe, fought the second wave of COVID-19 with awesome gusto. And now, after the nightmare of tails-up, never-ending action, it is heads-up with falling cases of infection and test positivity percentages. A time to cheer.

New daily Infections are at currently about 1.75 Lakh per day, and the lowest in 44 days. The average India daily test positivity rate is at about 9%. And the recovery rate is 90.34%. The total vaccination is India stands at above 20.50 crore.

The Government has promised to get India full vaccinated by December 2021. That’s ambitious and I hope it gets done so that we can open ourselves into a less virus dominated year in 2022. Oh, the years are flying!

The newly elected Government in my State of Tamilnadu (TN) promised to make it the top State in all aspects. It did just that. And right now, TN is at the head of the daily positive cases, while almost at the bottom of the table on the number of vaccinations done as a percentage of the population.

Maybe someone heard me and I learnt of a special Vaccination Camp for the 18 to 45 year olds happening this Thursday onwards in the Government Municipality School, next-door to my business place. I herded my employees-locked down in their homes-to make the best use of the opportunity and I’m glad they all listened. And got their first shots. My Business is now Vaccinated: all with at least one shot and the oldest person fully-with a double jab.

I would say we should not throw caution to the winds and prepare for worser things to come. ‘Once bitten, twice shy’ is a timeless saying. Mask-up, wash hands often, and keep the distance.

Please Yourself

Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest results were out this Sunday and Italy’s Maneskin won the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with their entry, ‘Zitti e Buoni’ (Shut Up and Behave) performed live by the Group. The song was written by the Band’s members, Damiano David (Lead Singer), Ethan Torchio (Drums), Thomas Raggi (Guitar), and Victoria De Angelis(Bass). They scored 524 points to win.

Maneskin are a heavy-metal Band from Rome. This is a first win in the contest for Rome and the third for Italy, which has been in the competition since inauguration of the Eurovision Contest in 1956. It was bare-chested, eye-lined, punk-funk rock performance with the Band singing in their native language.

There were some splitting moments during the contest when lead singer Damiano accidentally split his pants-in the front and sides. Later he had to deny taking cocaine, live on TV after appearing to do a kind of snorting action during the performance. However an investigation conducted into the charges, unambiguously cleared Damiano.

Runners-up was the French singer, Barbara Pravi, in the second place and Switzerland’s Gjon’s Tears, in the third.

The contest was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands which was due to host the event in 2020, but was cancelled due to the pandemic and held, as we ‘heard’ this year. The winning country hosts the Contest, next year. Over to Italy.

Designated Survivor

Lockdowns are useful for discovering new ways of surviving this phase of intense virus blasts. I was nudged by one of my best Engineering College friends to watch the Netflix political, thriller, drama, Designated Survivor, with a warning ‘you may end-up binge watching’.

I told myself, here I am, a ‘Designated Sage’ reading the Baghavad Gita, as often as possible, finding hidden meanings, expanding known beliefs, and meditating regularly to rein my mind to peacefully pursue my written-down goals. Surely nothing can get me astray. I even cleverly had Darius Foroux’s, Thinking Straight, by my side, which I have been reading and re-reading.

After watching the first Episode, Season-1, then the second, then the third, and the fourth…and all my mind (and time) control went for a thrilling toss. I decided to pack my bags, catch a plane and settle down in one of the 132 rooms in the White House, Washington DC, to watch the drama unfold in close quarters. Well, literally.

A ‘designated survivor’ is a person who is chosen to stay at an undisclosed secret location, under the guard of the Secret Service, away from major events such as the State of Union Address or Presidential inaugurations when the entire Government is assembled in one place. The thinking is that there is someone ‘left behind’ to take charge of the Government in the event of a terror attack when the entire Government may be killed, wiped-out.

‘Designated’ becomes real, when a US Secretary of Housing & Urban Development suddenly ascends, to unexpectedly become the President of the United States after a horrific explosion in Capitol Hill Building during the State of the Union Address kills the President and everyone ahead of him in the presidential line of succession.

Kiefer Sutherland stars as Thomas Kirkman, the Designated Survivor, who becomes the President and smartly navigates himself from one tense nerve-wracking situation to another, to pull the country out of a headless crisis and put in place a Government. He plays the role of lifetime in a scorching performance. Others characters, I was forced to fall in love are, Emily Rhodes- Special Advisor/Chief Of Staff, Hannah Wells – FBI Special Agent, Chuck Russink – FBI Analyst, and Seth Wright – Press Secretary.

Watch it for the thrilling turn-of events, the investigative sequences, in every episode, which keeps you on the edge of your seat, the curt dialogues, the acting, and shooting…and prepare for the binge!

More music-in life-and survival stories coming up in the weeks ahead.