1971:RAW FOOLED ISI

GANGA HIJAJACK WAS A DECOY

INDIA STOPPED INDIAN AIR SPACE FOR PAKISTAN

PAKISTAN ARMY IN EAST PAKISTAN SUFFERED.

SARASIJ MAJUMDER

 

The enmity between India and Pakistan is one of the most bitter struggles in the world. While India plays the game as a defender, following rules—Pakistan plays it most savagely. Both the countries have fought 3 major wars and countless small and big types of proxy wars in the last 70 years. Apart from all these visible wars, there is an invisible war which is going on 24 hours throughout the year, between RAW, and ISI.

This intelligence war is a silent, bitter but effective fight for both the countries. India's main spy agency "RAW" is counted among the most professional and dangerous agencies in the world and Pakistan's "ISI" also has the distinction of being a notorious spy agency. In Pakistan, ISI is running  a parallel government or it would not be an exaggeration to say that this agency is secretly running the entire Pakistan under its control.

There are many examples where Indian RAW has defeated Pakistani ISI. For obvious reasons—these are not publicized. Let me tell you one such story... Indian RAW agent, or rather double agent-- Hasham Qureshi was working with the Border Security Force in Srinagar...

Some of terrorists in Pakistan occupied Kashmir formed an organization for the conquest of Kashmir which was named Al Fatah.  36 people of this organization were arrested by Kashmir Police with the help of our intelligence agencies. RAW agent Hasham Qureshi was given the responsibility  to infiltrate this organization to get more information. He had in-depth knowledge of many parts of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. He was sent to POK but after going there he started running their operations in collaboration with ISI... In a way I can say that he betrayed India... Qureshi was taught to fly a plane by a former Pakistani pilot and also trained him to hijack a plane. ...

When ISI sent him back to India to fulfil its dark plans, BSF caught Qureshi at the border and sent him to the camp for intensive interrogation...

Till now everything seems like a film story, and script changed from here.

His original plan was to hijack an Indian plane which was being flown by Rajiv Gandhi, son of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi... This shocking news was revealed in front of the top chiefs of BSF and RAW... India’s secret Preparations were made to defeat Pakistan in its own game.

This was India's master plan:

RAW and BSF had convinced Qureshi to complete a secret mission on the promise of protecting him from punishment from Indian authorities.

India's secret plan was that Qureshi himself would carry out the plan that would hijack people on an Indian Airlines flight from Srinagar to Lahore and demand the release of 36 members of the jailed members of  Al Fatah organization.

A Fokker Friendship aircraft "Ganga", which had been retired from Indian Airlines, was selected for  this operation. As per the plan, a fake pistol and a fake grenade were delivered to this plane. The operation begins at the appointed time and it was announced that the plane has been hijacked... Indian’s private  Radio operators,  All India Radio--all broadcasted the news of this hijacking. The Pakistani authority in Lahore gave permission to this plane to land. They were told that the plane had been hijacked by the Rastriya Mukti Morcha of POK... Soon this news spread like wildfire, in that era when there was no internet and 24-hour news channels... This news  was broadcasted in such a way that the message goes to the entire world that the Pakistan government has carried out this kidnapping.

 The plane landed in Lahore.  According to the plan, a demand was made to release 36 members from the plane but India rejected this demand... Pakistan gave political asylum to Qureshi and he was adopted and respected in Pakistan as a freedom fighter... Subsequently Qureshi Was introduced to Zulfikar Bhutto.

The passengers of that plane were ultimately sent back to India and Pakistan burnt the plane.

The question arises why India did this?

India could  ban all  Pakistani flights, and Aircrafts crossing over Indian air space,   as early as from 20 January, 1971, making it difficult for reinforcements from West Pakistan, which had to detour -- the much longer route over Sri Lanka.

PAF flew nearly 100 sorties in support of the ground forces between October and 3 December.

India banned all flights from, and to Pakistan. After this incident, a message was given to the whole world that Pakistan is openly nurturing and supporting terrorism... Pakistan knew very well that Qureshi was an agent of India. Pakistan was using civilian flights to supply resources to East Pakistani (Bangladesh) areas... The easiest way to reach from Pakistan to Bangladesh was to use the Indian airspace, otherwise it would have to travel much longer  air route to reach East Pakistan.  Due to the air blockade imposed by India, this restriction was breaking the back of Pakistan as the supplies to the army was slowed down and eventually Pakistan had to leave the East Pakistan part. This was a master stroke in the 1971 war by the Indian intelligence agency RAW which forced the enemy to bow down.

RAW’s contribution in Bangladesh war was phenomenal. But it left un-noticed.

References:- There are many references including BBC coverage on this. Some are listed below.

1.0 https://madrascourier.com/insight/mission-raw-the-hijack-of-aeroplane-ganga-in-1971/

2.0 https://www.thelallantop.com/lallankhas/post/tarikh-story-of-1971-indian-airline-ganga-hijacking-how-raw-fooled-pakistan

3.0 https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/reviews/story/1971-hijacking-mission-that-went-well-in-real-not-reel-507398

4.0 https://medium.com/@cmchelsimehta/operation-ganga-indias-strategic-hijack-and-the-birth-of-bangladesh-dc985b3dedad

Images:- Google

 

 

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