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Akal Takht to Honour to AI Plane Hijacker( in 1981)

Aug. 30 Crime, Politics, Religion, Social Cause, World Comments

(Amritsar)Akal Takht to Honour to AI Plane Hijacker (In 1981)
The Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, has decided to confer the “Panth Sewak” award on radical outfit Dal Khalsa founder Gajinder Singh, one of the five men accused of hijacking an Indian Airlines plane to Lahore in 1981.
India had put Gajinder’s name in the list of 20 most wanted terrorists in 2002.
An official of the Akal Takht on Sunday said it was decided during a meeting of five Sikh head priests recently to confer the award on Gajinder Singh.
Presently, Gajinder Singh is residing in Pakistan’s Lahore.
In the wake of the hijacking, the Union government had banned the Dal Khalsa in 1982. The ban was, however, lifted a decade later.
The plane was hijacked with 111 passengers and six crew members on board on September 29, 1981.
The accused forced the plane to land in Lahore of Pakistan, where they were arrested and underwent imprisonment from September 30, 1981 to October 31, 1994.
The hijackers had demanded the release of several Khalistani extremists, including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Pakistan used its elite commando force to get all passengers released.

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