NEW DELHI/JALANDHAR: Pro-Khalistan terrorist Gajinder Singh, wanted in India and hiding in Pakistan for four decades since he hijacked a Delhi-Srinagar Indian Airlines flight in 1981, died at 73 in Lahore after purportedly suffering a cardiac arrest earlier this week.
Gajinder, who co-founded the radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa and was an anti-India campaigner till his last days, had been put on a list of 20 most-wanted terrorists in 2002.
He was cremated Thursday close to a gurdwara in the Pakistani city that harboured him, with his daughter Bikramjit Kaur lighting the pyre, Dal Khalsa functionary Kanwarpal Singh said.
On Sept29, 1981, Gajinder and four terrorists hijacked flight IC 423 with 111 passengers and six crew members on board. The hijackers forced the pilots to land the plane in Lahore, from where they negotiated with former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh, who was then India’s ambassador to Pakistan, for the release of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and several pro-Khalistan terrorists.
Gajinder’s gang also demanded $5,00,000, threatening to behead the pilots. The hijackers wrapped fruit in newspapers and claimed those were grenades with which they would blow up the aircraft.
The hijack drama ended when Pakistani commandos entered the aircraft after diplomatic pressure from India. Although the then Pakistan govt claimed to have incarcerated the hijackers for years, pictures surfaced in 1986 showing them free. Satnam Singh and Tejinderpal Singh, the two who returned to India, were arrested, tried and acquitted.
Gajinder travelled to Germany in 1996 but was barred from entering the country due to objections from India. He returned to Pakistan and stayed low for several years. While India kept seeking his deportation, Pakistan denied his presence in its territory.
In 2016, Dal Khalsa merged with another radical outfit named Panch Pardhani, while retaining its name to push the secessionist Khalistan agenda.
Gajinder’s whereabouts remained unknown until Sept 2022, when a picture of him on social media revealed his location in Pakistan. He had posted the picture of him standing in front of Gurdwara Panja Sahib at Hasan Abdal in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
At a function in Hoshiarpur on the 41st anniversary of the hijacking, Dal Khalsa appealed to Pakistan to consider granting Gajinder political asylum.
On April 14 this year, 11 years after Indian death-row convict Sarabjit Singh was killed in Pakistan jail, his arrested murderer, ISI henchman and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed’s associate Amir Sarfaraz, was shot by bike-borne gunmen in Lahore’s Islampura locality. Without naming India, Pakistani authorities ordered an investigation into his killing as a “targeted attack”.
Gajinder, who co-founded the radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa and was an anti-India campaigner till his last days, had been put on a list of 20 most-wanted terrorists in 2002.
He was cremated Thursday close to a gurdwara in the Pakistani city that harboured him, with his daughter Bikramjit Kaur lighting the pyre, Dal Khalsa functionary Kanwarpal Singh said.
On Sept29, 1981, Gajinder and four terrorists hijacked flight IC 423 with 111 passengers and six crew members on board. The hijackers forced the pilots to land the plane in Lahore, from where they negotiated with former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh, who was then India’s ambassador to Pakistan, for the release of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and several pro-Khalistan terrorists.
Gajinder’s gang also demanded $5,00,000, threatening to behead the pilots. The hijackers wrapped fruit in newspapers and claimed those were grenades with which they would blow up the aircraft.
The hijack drama ended when Pakistani commandos entered the aircraft after diplomatic pressure from India. Although the then Pakistan govt claimed to have incarcerated the hijackers for years, pictures surfaced in 1986 showing them free. Satnam Singh and Tejinderpal Singh, the two who returned to India, were arrested, tried and acquitted.
Gajinder travelled to Germany in 1996 but was barred from entering the country due to objections from India. He returned to Pakistan and stayed low for several years. While India kept seeking his deportation, Pakistan denied his presence in its territory.
In 2016, Dal Khalsa merged with another radical outfit named Panch Pardhani, while retaining its name to push the secessionist Khalistan agenda.
Gajinder’s whereabouts remained unknown until Sept 2022, when a picture of him on social media revealed his location in Pakistan. He had posted the picture of him standing in front of Gurdwara Panja Sahib at Hasan Abdal in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
At a function in Hoshiarpur on the 41st anniversary of the hijacking, Dal Khalsa appealed to Pakistan to consider granting Gajinder political asylum.
On April 14 this year, 11 years after Indian death-row convict Sarabjit Singh was killed in Pakistan jail, his arrested murderer, ISI henchman and LeT founder Hafiz Saeed’s associate Amir Sarfaraz, was shot by bike-borne gunmen in Lahore’s Islampura locality. Without naming India, Pakistani authorities ordered an investigation into his killing as a “targeted attack”.
