Netflix stirs up dormant angst with its series on IA hijacking

The series on the IC-814 hijacking has stirred up a public debate, reopening old wounds

- K C SINGH

Neighbourly Eye

The Netflix series on the IC-814 hijacking has stirred up a public debate, reopening old wounds. Why, asked the government, have Hindu names been used for hijackers? It mattered little that those were the pseudonyms used by the hijackers all through the ordeal. That was easily fixed by each episode beginning with a caveat showing the real and assumed names.

The more complex issue is why the ISI was not blamed. ISI's complicity is established by the sequence of events preceding the hijacking, including the role of their agents and the Pakistani embassy car in Kathmandu. There was also the close nexus between the ISI and the Hizbul Mujahideen or its variant Harkat-ul-Ansar to which Maulana Masood Azhar, the principal militant leader released at Kandahar, belonged. But Netflix is an international platform and thus would resist broadcasting any claim that cannot be firmly established, especially if it points a finger at Pakistan's army. The Pakistani embassy car has been shown in the serial, though the exchange between the officials of the two nations at the Kathmandu airport appears contrived.