1981 IA flight hijacker Gajinder Singh dies of heart attack in Pakistan
GS Paul
Amritsar, July 5
Gajinder Singh (74), who hijacked an Indian Airlines (IA) flight to Lahore in 1981, has died of a heart attack in Pakistan.
Paramjit Singh Mand, a spokesperson for radical outfit Dal Khalsa, said Gajinder died on July 3 and his last rites were performed at the cremation ground of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in the presence of his daughter Bikramjit Kaur, who lives in the UK. His wife Manjeet Kaur had passed away in Germany in 2019.
Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh and the SGPC executive body have expressed their condolences.
In September 2020, five high priests headed by Akal Takht’s then officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had decided to honour Gajinder with the title of “Jilawatan Sikh Yodha” (Sikh warrior-in-exile), but the ceremony could not be held.
Gajinder, a co-founder of the Dal Khalsa, was included in the list of 20 most-wanted terrorists in 2002.
Along with four accomplices, he had hijacked the plane carrying 111 passengers and six crew members on September 29, 1981, and forced it to land in Lahore. He demanded the release of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and several other Khalistani extremists.
His aides included Tejinder Pal Singh, Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib, Dalbir Singh and Karan Singh. All of them were arrested by Pakistan’s security agencies on September 30, 1981, and were awarded 14-year imprisonment by a special court. They completed their sentence on October 31, 1994.
While Tejinder and Satnam came back to India in 1997 and 1999, Dalbir and Karan got political asylum in Switzerland.
In 1996, Gajinder flew to Germany but was not allowed to enter the country after India raised objections. He somehow managed to go back to Pakistan. Since then, his whereabouts were not known.
In September 2022, Gajinder had uploaded his photo on his Facebook page while standing in front of Gurdwara Panja Sahib at Hasan Abdal in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Later, his social media account was blocked in India.
