Introduction
A small Pakistan International Airlines plane was ready for take-off at Gwadar Airport. As usual, it was a routine flight, but today was by no means a normal day for the Pakistani authorities as no one knew at that time. That three hijackers are also traveling in the plane. In the next few hours, PIA Flight 544 was going to make national and international media headlines for Pakistan, which was to conduct its first nuclear test just three days later. Difficult times have come so hard that Pakistan had to hoist the flag of India.
History
Viewers It was the evening of May 25, 1998, Pakistan International Airlines or PIA Flight 544 takeoff from Turbat in Balochistan and landed at Gwadar International Airport. It was a small Fokker F-27 aircraft of PIA. Which had a only 20 minute stay at gawadar airport. Here three passenger are got off and one new passenger was boarded. Now there were total 27 passengers flight 544 and five crew members in the plane. After passenger voting, the plane takeoff at 5:55 pm and now its next and the final stop was Karachi International Airport, where he had to land after exactly one hour, i.e. at 6:55 p.m. After taking off flight 544 from Gwadar Airport, only a few minutes had passed when a passenger got up and started going to the cockpit, on which the air hostesses tried to stop him, but the man managed to push the air hostesses and enter the cockpit.Ā Let me tell you here that when all this was happening in PIA Flight 544, after three days, i.e. on the 28th May 1998, Pakistan was to conduct its first nuclear test in the hills of Chaghai district of Balochistan province. The test was named Chaghai-1 by Pakistan and it was a very important day in Pakistan’s history because India had flight 544 conducted its second nuclear test Pokhran 2 earlier that month. In the eyes of the world, Pakistan was already 24 years behind in the nuclear race because flight 544 India conducted its first nuclear test at Pokhran 1 in 1974. This is the reason why Pakistan did not want any kind of mess before its first nuclear test, but despite not wanting it, what was feared happened. Meanwhile, the man who forced his way into the cockpit of PIA Flight 544 pulled out his pistol and told the pilot that the plane had been hijacked. There were two other companions of the hijackers in the passenger cabin, when they saw that the pilot was under control, they got up from their seats and took all the passengers hostage with weapons. In the event that the plane will be blown up by the boom that one of them has tied on his body, someone would have understood something. Meanwhile, the pilot also made an announcement and confirmed this. Talking about flight 544 it, pilot Captain Uzair Khan, first pilot officer Mohammad Faisal, two air hostesses Khaleda Afridi and Asma Irani along with a ground engineer Sajjad Chaudhry were also involved. The three hijackers did not seem to be educated, they flight 544 were wearing shalwar kameez and since they boarded from Turbat, there were chances that they also belonged to Balochistan province, but what did the hijackers demanded. Balochistan province Pakistan’s largest province in the South is some of the tribes here wanted a separate country since the days of British India, but in 1947, Pakistan and India were partitioned and Balochistan was declared a province of Pakistan. Some of the tribes are against the Pakistani government and they do not like using the natural resources of Balochistan. On 28th May 1998, Pakistan had to conduct its first nuclear test in the chagai district of Balochistan. According to reports, the local population was at risk. That if nuclear testing takes place in this area, they will have to suffer the dire consequences. On the other hand, the point of the Pakistani government is that only a few people lived here who were shifted to other areas before the nuclear testing. That’s why they hijacked PIA flight 544 just three days ago, Meanwhile, the hijacker in the cockpit demanded from Captain Uzair Khan to take the plane directly to New Delhi, the capital of India instead of Karachi flight 544. Why did the hijackers make this demand? They thought that if we were against the Pakistan government, we would be found help in India, because a similar incident had happened five years ago in 1993, Indian Airlines Flight 89 from Delhi to Madras. When she was hijacked by a Sikh truck driver alone, He demanded the pilot to take the plane to Lahore International Airport in Pakistan, but due to not getting permission, the plane was landed in Amritsar where the hijacker hijacked the plane. He Surrendered himself after holding a press conference on the media. Perhaps the Baloch hijackers had a similar plan.
The captain of Flight 544 directed the plane towards India at gunpoint and announced to the passengers that we would land in New Delhi, India, but the hijackers did not know that the captain had secretly The transponder of the aircraft was set in hijack mode, which signaled to the traffic controller on the ground that the aircraft flight 544 had been hijacked. Meanwhile, the pilot told the hijacker that this is a small Fogger F-27 plane which does not have enough fuel to go directly to New Delhi, 1100 km away, so the plane will have to be landed somewhere for refueling. The pilot told the hijackers that We should land at the Indian BHUJ airport which is 300 km from Karachi in Gujarat. The hijackers agreed so the pilot contacted the control tower. And upon asking permission to land at Bridge Airport, the pilot Uzair Khan showed cleverness and actually called Hyderabad Airport of Pakistan, not Bridge Airport. The information had already reached the airports of Pakistan that Flight 544 was highjack. Due to which the control tower of Hyderabad airport was already on alert, the authorities of Hyderabad airport also gave permission to the captain to land by pretending to be at the airport. An emergency was declared in Hyderabad that a plane has been hijacked which will land at the Hyderabad airport shortly and the biggest problem was that the hijackers were mistaking the airport for the Indian airport. That they should immediately erase all the signs from the entire airport that identify the airport. The airport authorities removed the name of Hyderabad written on the terminal building. Signboards were removed from the entire airport, lights were turned off and even the flag of Pakistan was removed from the building and the flag of India was also hoisted. In addition, the entire Hyderabad city was blacked out in collaboration with the local administration. At the time of landing, the hijackers could not recognize any sign of Hyderabad. Rangers and police vehicles stopped at the airport with their lights off but it all happened so suddenly that no one knew the next plan of action. Late at night, PK 544 finally landed at Hyderabad airport. The airport authorities looked inside the windows of the plane and saw one hijacker in the cockpit near the main door while the third was walking in the cabin. There was silence for about an hour, but then night. At 11:35 a.m. the door of the plane opens and Ground Engineer Sajjad Chori is sent out from inside to bring them food and water and a special message was sent out to Dara Sahmahua Ground Engineer Airport Authorities. Aya and the police put the demand of the hijackers in front of the hijackers who thought that they had landed at the airport in India. Their demand was that they wanted to meet with the Pakistan High Commissioner in India. I was to stop nuclear testing The police were informed that a group of commandos of Pakistan Army was leaving from Islamabad, until then they continued to waste the hijackers’ time in any way, so the policemen decided to interact with the hijackers by pretending to be Indians. Senior Superintendent of Police Akhtar Barjani changed his name to Manoj Kumar, became ASP Usman Anwar Ramchander and Deputy Commissioner Sohail Shah became Kopichand.
They gave food to the hijackers and passengersŪ He took flight 544 the name he understood at that time and bravely went near the plane in civil dress, he gave food to the hijackers and passengers and met them in a very friendly manner HSP Akhtar Gorchani who by the way speaks Balochi language. They knew that they could easily understand the hijackers’ conversation, but they did not let them suspect at all. It is said that the Pakistan High Commissioner has left New Delhi and it will take some time for them to reach here, whereas actually they were all waiting for the commandos of the Pakistan Army. SSP said in his interview that there were only two hours left for morning, but the army commandos flight 544 were not coming. So when the trust level with the hijackers increased to a great extent, the two police officers flight 544 and a deputy commissioner decided to take action themselves. Later it was found that they did not even have any booms, the real names of the three high-jaggers were told as Shashwaar Balochaber Baloch and Sabir Rand, while they were traveling in the plane under the names of Jamal Hussain Anwar Hussain and Ghulam Hussain. There was no casualty at the climax and all the passengers were returned to Safely on the same plane to Karachi, it is hoped.
Conclusion
The raising of the Indian flag at a Pakistani airport is a significant event with deep historical, cultural, and political implications. It highlights the fragile nature of India-Pakistan flight 544 relations and the need for careful handling of national symbols. As investigations continue, it’s crucial for both nations to work together to ensure such incidents do not recur, fostering a more stable and cooperative relationship in the future.