Have you heard that a politician, whose release from prison was sought by hijackers of a plane, became the President?

The country is Pakistan, and the leader is its President, Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari, a feudal lord from Sindh, is the husband of Benazir Bhutto and the father of former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto.

On March 26, 1991, Singapore Airlines Flight SQ-117 took off from Kuala Lumpur for Singapore. There were 114 passengers and 11 crew members on board, including 55 Malaysians, 21 Singaporeans, 12 Japanese, 4 Britons, 3 Americans, and others from Canada and France. Four of the 114 passengers were Pakistani nationals.

Within 12 minutes of takeoff, the four Pakistani men, later identified as Shahid Hussain Soomro (the leader), Fida Mohammad Khan Jadoon, Javaid Akhter Keyani, and Mohammad Yousof Mughal, took control of the pilot’s cabin and announced that they had hijacked the plane. The hijackers were armed with six cylindrical explosive sticks and three long knives.

Chief Steward Philip Cheong and Singapore Airlines Flight SQ-117 

In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto had been ousted from power in 1990, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was in jail on charges of extortion. Several other leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were imprisoned by the new government led by Nawaz Sharif.

After the flight landed in Singapore, the hijackers demanded the refueling of the airplane as they wanted to fly to Libya or Iraq. They also demanded the release of PPP leaders from jails in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Sukkur. The list of PPP leaded included Asif Ali Zardari. They spoke with the Pakistani Ambassador in Singapore.

Singapore officials tried to contact Benazir to handle the situation, but she did not respond. The hijackers, on the other hand, were threatening to start killing the passengers, beginning with the Americans.

A newspaper carrying the news of the Hijacking

The plane had landed at 10:24 pm on 26 March at Changi Airport, Singapore. By 10:30 pm, the aircraft had been surrounded by the police and troopers. The pilot was relaying messages between the hijackers and the Singapore government officials. Bernard Tan, a flight attendant, was assaulted by the hijackers around 11:20 p.m. and flung from the aircraft, landing 4.5 meters into the tarmac. Tan informed the authorities about the hijackers' firearms and other details.

At 6:45 am, the terrorists stopped the negotiations and gave a 10-minute deadline to fulfill their demand or they would kill the passengers. The authorities ordered the SAF Commandos to take position at 6:47 am. While the negotiations while going on for 8 hours, the commandos had rehearsed the operation on a similar Airbus. All the terrorists were already marked with the help of two stewards.

Hijacked plane at the tarmac of the Changi airport

The commandos stormed the aircraft at 6:50 and shot dead all four terrorists within 30 seconds. Asif Ali Zardari’s dreams of getting released could not materialize. In Pakistan, several PPP people, including one Ghulam Abbas Chandio, for connected with the hijackers.

UPI reported, “Sheikh Rasheed, information adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, claimed the hijackers belonged to Al-Zulfikar, a terrorist organization named after the father of Benazir Bhutto, the late Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and headed by his son, Murtaza Bhutto.” 

What does this incident tell us about Pakistan? Terrorism in Pakistan, as argued by many, is not a creed limited to some rogue elements. The fact that Bhuttos, supposedly more progressive among Pakistanis, could lead such terrorist attacks is enough to explain the situation in Pakistan.

Workers of a mainstream party led an attack on an airliner of some other country, and the man they wanted to get released is the President of Pakistan. So, what can we expect from this government led by this President?