<p>In 2004, Safarini, the leader of the hijackers who hijacked the Pan-Am Clipper-73 Airlines in Karachi on September 5, 1986, confessed to the US-FBI officials that the hijack was indeed carried out as per the orders of the then Libyan leader Col Maummar Gadaffi, by their organisation “The Abu Nidal” (ANO). <br /><br /></p>.<p>Soon after Safarini’s confession, the Pan-Am hijack victims in the US, India, UK and other countries got united to form “The Victims’ Association of the 1986 Pan-Am hijack” and filed a legal petition before the Washington-DC Court through the law firm Crowell and Moring. The legal suit was filed in April, 2006. A JPA (Joint Prosecution Agreement) was also signed by 178 plaintiffs who joined the case, so that in the event, a compensation is procured through an out of court settlement, all plaintiffs would be eligible for their corresponding shares.<br /><br />But, when Gadaffi deposited an amount of 1.5 billion dollars with the US government, to settle the compensation claims of victims of all Libyan atrocities, then US president George Bush enacted The Libyan Claims Resolution Act in 2008, so that only those passengers of Pan-Am 73 who were American citizens at the time of hijack should be given their share of compensation.<br /><br />The Pan-Am aircraft was hijacked at Karachi (the flight originated in Mumbai and was on its way to New York). The hijackers threatened to blow-up the aircraft anytime. The flight remained under the brutal control of the hijackers for nearly 17 hours and ended in a blood bath, due to indiscriminate firing by the hijackers, when the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) of the aircraft failed.<br /><br />The hijack was a revenge attack on the US by the ANO as per Gadaffi’s orders. During Ronald Reagan’s regime in April 1986, the US Air Force had bombed Tripoli and Benghazi, during which Ghadaffi’s adopted daughter had got killed and hence the hijackers wanted to blow-up the aircraft (Libya became successful in bombing a Pan-Am 103 Lockerbie flight in 1988). And the fact that the Pan-Am 73 had appointed an all Indian crew (except the pilots) clearly indicated that the US government knew of the threat to its airlines.<br /><br />Inside the deserted, stationary aircraft (pilot and co-pilot had escaped through the emergency hatch in the cockpit after they got alerted by a secret code through intercom) Chandigarh born 23-year old Indian airhostess Neerja Bhanot (who was the Chief Flight Purser of the hijacked aircraft) went beyond her call of duty and died as a true martyr. Neerja and her Indian colleagues hid the passports of about 44 American passengers when the hijackers made their intentions clear that they were targeting the American citizens.<br /><br />Lockerbie settlement<br /><br />In the Lockerbie litigation settlement, there has been a fair distribution of compensation irrespective of the plaintiff’s nationality. But, in the Pan-Am 73 case, all non-US nationals have been discriminated against. Aneesh Bhanot, elder brother of slain Neerja, had filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court questioning this discrimination and the court had asked the Government of India to pursue the matter with the US government in May 2014. <br /><br />The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry in its official memorandum documented (just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the USA in September 2014) that “if the laws in USA are posing any impediment for the fair share of compensation distribution to non-US nationals, it is the duty of the US government to amend these laws so that all those who have suffered due to such attacks on the US aircraft are eligible for compensation.”<br />Ironically, none of the Indian victims’ questions on terrorism was picked and answered in the ‘Mann ki baat’ jointly conducted by Modi and US President Barack Obama in January 2015, during the latter’s visit to India!<br /><br />As Stewart Newberger, the leading attorney at Crowell and Moring has quoted in a leading publication, “Foreign nationals’ claims in the US court brought in more funds to the US Department’s Pan-Am Trust.” Also, through the US, the Libyan government had sought global resolution of all it’s pending terrorism related litigations.<br /><br />Hence, a fair share of procurement and distribution of compensation by the Indian government can result in restoring the dignity of Indian victims of Pan-Am 73 hijacking, since most of the surviving passengers and their near relatives still suffer from PTSS (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome). <br /><br />The closure of the Pan-Am case may provide dignity to the departed soul of Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her young, precious life to save the passengers, not at all discriminating whether they were Americans, Indians or any other nationals.<br /><br /><em>(The writer is a health-management consultant and a free-lance writer. Her husband, Dr Kishore Murthy, was a passenger of the hijacked plane, but could escape because of Neerja’s heroic support)</em></p>
<p>In 2004, Safarini, the leader of the hijackers who hijacked the Pan-Am Clipper-73 Airlines in Karachi on September 5, 1986, confessed to the US-FBI officials that the hijack was indeed carried out as per the orders of the then Libyan leader Col Maummar Gadaffi, by their organisation “The Abu Nidal” (ANO). <br /><br /></p>.<p>Soon after Safarini’s confession, the Pan-Am hijack victims in the US, India, UK and other countries got united to form “The Victims’ Association of the 1986 Pan-Am hijack” and filed a legal petition before the Washington-DC Court through the law firm Crowell and Moring. The legal suit was filed in April, 2006. A JPA (Joint Prosecution Agreement) was also signed by 178 plaintiffs who joined the case, so that in the event, a compensation is procured through an out of court settlement, all plaintiffs would be eligible for their corresponding shares.<br /><br />But, when Gadaffi deposited an amount of 1.5 billion dollars with the US government, to settle the compensation claims of victims of all Libyan atrocities, then US president George Bush enacted The Libyan Claims Resolution Act in 2008, so that only those passengers of Pan-Am 73 who were American citizens at the time of hijack should be given their share of compensation.<br /><br />The Pan-Am aircraft was hijacked at Karachi (the flight originated in Mumbai and was on its way to New York). The hijackers threatened to blow-up the aircraft anytime. The flight remained under the brutal control of the hijackers for nearly 17 hours and ended in a blood bath, due to indiscriminate firing by the hijackers, when the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) of the aircraft failed.<br /><br />The hijack was a revenge attack on the US by the ANO as per Gadaffi’s orders. During Ronald Reagan’s regime in April 1986, the US Air Force had bombed Tripoli and Benghazi, during which Ghadaffi’s adopted daughter had got killed and hence the hijackers wanted to blow-up the aircraft (Libya became successful in bombing a Pan-Am 103 Lockerbie flight in 1988). And the fact that the Pan-Am 73 had appointed an all Indian crew (except the pilots) clearly indicated that the US government knew of the threat to its airlines.<br /><br />Inside the deserted, stationary aircraft (pilot and co-pilot had escaped through the emergency hatch in the cockpit after they got alerted by a secret code through intercom) Chandigarh born 23-year old Indian airhostess Neerja Bhanot (who was the Chief Flight Purser of the hijacked aircraft) went beyond her call of duty and died as a true martyr. Neerja and her Indian colleagues hid the passports of about 44 American passengers when the hijackers made their intentions clear that they were targeting the American citizens.<br /><br />Lockerbie settlement<br /><br />In the Lockerbie litigation settlement, there has been a fair distribution of compensation irrespective of the plaintiff’s nationality. But, in the Pan-Am 73 case, all non-US nationals have been discriminated against. Aneesh Bhanot, elder brother of slain Neerja, had filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court questioning this discrimination and the court had asked the Government of India to pursue the matter with the US government in May 2014. <br /><br />The Indian Civil Aviation Ministry in its official memorandum documented (just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the USA in September 2014) that “if the laws in USA are posing any impediment for the fair share of compensation distribution to non-US nationals, it is the duty of the US government to amend these laws so that all those who have suffered due to such attacks on the US aircraft are eligible for compensation.”<br />Ironically, none of the Indian victims’ questions on terrorism was picked and answered in the ‘Mann ki baat’ jointly conducted by Modi and US President Barack Obama in January 2015, during the latter’s visit to India!<br /><br />As Stewart Newberger, the leading attorney at Crowell and Moring has quoted in a leading publication, “Foreign nationals’ claims in the US court brought in more funds to the US Department’s Pan-Am Trust.” Also, through the US, the Libyan government had sought global resolution of all it’s pending terrorism related litigations.<br /><br />Hence, a fair share of procurement and distribution of compensation by the Indian government can result in restoring the dignity of Indian victims of Pan-Am 73 hijacking, since most of the surviving passengers and their near relatives still suffer from PTSS (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome). <br /><br />The closure of the Pan-Am case may provide dignity to the departed soul of Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her young, precious life to save the passengers, not at all discriminating whether they were Americans, Indians or any other nationals.<br /><br /><em>(The writer is a health-management consultant and a free-lance writer. Her husband, Dr Kishore Murthy, was a passenger of the hijacked plane, but could escape because of Neerja’s heroic support)</em></p>
