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India-Pakistan

24 yrs later, killer of heroic Neerja Bhanot falls to drone

2010-01-16

A back story with a lot of importance. Half of India's population today wasn't born when she died in 1986 in a hail of gunfire on a hijacked plane after courageously saving scores of passengers, a feat for which she was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra in India, Tamgha-e-Insaniyat in Pakistan and the Justice for Crimes Award in the US. Earlier this week, some 24 years after her heroism, one of her killers died a dog's death in the badlands of Pakistan, reportedly shot to pieces in a US drone attack. The saga of Neerja Bhanot transfixed India at a time where there was no 24-hour news television and it had little to do with the fact that her father was a New Delhi journalist. She was a flight attendant on Pan Am Flight 73 as it headed out of Mumbai to Karachi en route to Frankfurt and onward to New York City. Four armed men dressed as airport security guards stormed the plane in Karachi. The cabin crew managed to alert the pilots, who decamped, effectively grounding the flight. In the hours-long ordeal that followed, Neerja showed exemplary courage, attested by some 350 passengers who survived the nightmare, although some 20 died and 120 were wounded after hijackers opened fire on them when Pakistani commandos prepared to storm the plane. Among her acts of courage was her refusal to collect US passports and hiding some of them as the hijackers sought to isolate Americans and Indians. She knew they meant business when one of the hijackers pulled Rajesh Kumar, a 29-year-old Indian American California resident to the front of the aircraft, asked him to kneel at the door, and shot him in the head when their demand for a new flight crew was not met. Neerja died shielding three children from gunfire as a bloody massacre erupted on the plane. The hijackers, who were said to be from the Abu Nidal Organisation, were eventually captured, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in 1988. But in a Pakistan that became increasingly permissive about terrorism, the sentences were later commuted to life in prison. In 2001, Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini, the hijacker who shot Rajesh Kumar among others, was captured by the FBI in Bangkok after he was released in Pakistan and was on his way back to Jordan. He was taken to the US where he was sentenced to a 160-year prison term he is now serving in Colorado. Four others who were in Pakistan's Adiala jail were freed in January 2008 even as the US fumed about Islamabad's action. The FBI announced a $5 million bounty on their head, pretty much ensuring their days are numbered. Earlier this week, Pakistani intelligence officials announced that a January 9 missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region killed Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, one of the hijackers. His affiliation is disputed. The FBI's web site lists him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaida member, but the FBI site says he was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group. Whichever it is, the world is a better place without him. There are no doubts about Neerja's affiliation though. She belongs to India's Hall of Courage.

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India-Pakistan

US kills FBI-wanted terrorist in Pakistan strike

2010-01-16

Ay Pee, so here's the summary: On January 9th an CIA Predator missile killed FBI-wanted terrorist Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, who was involved in the 1986 Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking. Wikipedia has an article. Mr. Rahim (or perhaps Abdulrahim, it's hard to know) was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terror group, and along with three others was released by the Pakistani authorities in 2008. He was supposed to have been deported to the Palestinian territories at that point — perhaps neither Mahmoud Abbas nor Khaled Meshal wanted him back.

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India-Pakistan

US kills Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim in Pakistan strike

2010-01-15

A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan killed one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, a man suspected in a deadly 1986 plane hijacking with a $5 million bounty on his head, three Pakistani intelligence officials said Friday. The death would be the latest victory for the CIA-led missile campaign against militant targets in Pakistan's insurgent-riddled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, a campaign that has recently escalated. One Thursday is believed to have missed Pakistan's Taliban chief. The intelligence officials said a Jan. 9 missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region killed Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim. The FBI's Web site lists him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaida member, but the FBI site says he was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group. Rahim is wanted for his alleged role in the Sept. 5, 1986, hijacking of Pan American World Airways Flight 73 during a stop in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, according to the FBI site. The hijackers demanded that 1,500 prisoners in Cyprus and Israel be released and that they be flown out of Pakistan. At one point, the hijackers shot and threw hand grenades at passengers and crew in one part of the plane. Some 20 people, including two Americans, died during the hijacking. Rahim had been tried and convicted by Pakistan, but he and three suspected accomplices were apparently released in January 2008. All four were added to the FBI list late last year. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The three Pakistani intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authority to speak to media on the record. They cited field informants and sources in militant ranks. But the information is nearly impossible to verify independently because access to Pakistan's tribal regions is restricted.

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India-Pakistan

SC dismisses appeal by Pan Am hijacker

2006-04-08

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal seeking the release of a Lebanese man accused of hijacking a Pan American aircraft after the court was told that Lebanon had acknowledged the nationality of the hijacker but had not sent his travel documents. In the last hearing the court had asked the federal government to submit a reply in a habeas corpus petition of Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim alias Fahad Ali, who claimed to be a Palestinian. He was arrested by FIA on September 5, 1986 for his involvement in the hijacking of the American airliner. In his appeal, the hijacker had said that he was serving time even though he had completed his life sentence. That would imply he's dead, wouldn't it? On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Nasir Saeed Sheikh told the court that earlier no country had been willing to accept the convict and his nationality had been in doubt, but Lebanon had finally accepted Jamal Saeed as a national.

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