Jaish-e-Mohammed plotting to hijack plane?
Dated 6/8/2005
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6 August 2005: Intercepted messages in Jammu and Kashmir suggest that the Pakistani terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, is planning a 25 December 1999 Indian Airlines-type hijack to force the release of the condemned Parliament attack terrorist, Mohammed Afzal.
Afzal’s death sentence as a conspirator in the 13 December 2001 Parliament attack was confirmed by the Supreme Court last week, and the JeM’s terrorist leader, Masood Azhar, and two other terrorists, were exchanged for the hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft in Kandahar, Afghanistan, then controlled by the Taliban.
The terrorist message intercepted by the security agencies says, “Hum baaz bejh rahein hein. Chidiya ko pakad lenge.” (We are sending the falcon. The bird will be caught.)
Agencies have decrypted this to mean the JeM is sending a team to hijack another plane, preferably a national carrier like Indian Airlines, from identified “softer” destinations like Dhaka, Bhutan or Assam, where security is of a lower order than in mainline Indian airports.
Details of funding have also been intercepted.
Sources said the JeM may not target Jet Airways or Sahara because of the lower leverage than taking a national airline, and the aim is to hijack a plane with a large passenger load, which would proportionately increase the pressure on the government to release Afzal.
Consequently, all the major airports have been red-alerted.