THE STORY OF STOLT VALOR

June 27, 1976, Air France flight139, carrying 248 passengers and twelve crew members, en route from Tel Aviv to Paris took off from Athens sometime in the afternoon. Shortly afterwards, the aircraft was hijacked by two members of the Popular Front of Palestine and two Germans from the German revolutionary Cells. The hijacked plane after refuelling in Beghazi in Libya, finally landed at the Entebbe airport in Uganda.

Uganda at that particular point of time was under the dictatorship of Idi Amin. Idi Amin is considered to be amongst the cruellest despots in modern history. Iterestingly Idi Amin had assumed the title of: "His Excellency, President for life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of all the beasts of the earth and fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in general and Uganda in particular." Do we need to say anything more about this man !

After its landing in Uganda, the hijackers were joined by three more Palestinian hijackers, and the passengers and the crew were conveniently moved out of the plane to the terminal building of the airport, with due connivance of the Ugandan authorities. The demand of the hijackers was the release of 40 Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails and 13 terrorists held in various countries like Kenya, France, Switzerland and the erstwhile West Germany.

The hijackers then released the non Israeli and the non Jewish passengers, which trimmed down the number of hostages to 83 along with 20 others which included the crew. Negotiations between the Israeli government and the hijackers bore no fruit, and the situation looked grim.

In the early hours of the 4th of July, 1976, four Hercules C 130 aeroplanes circled over the Entebbe airport. The passengers were no ordinary passengers, for they were the elite commandos of the Israeli Defence Force. To their surprise, the commandos found that the runway lights had not been switched off. Undeterred,the planes landed with their hatches already opened. The Ugandan forces which were present in full strength,detected nothing, as out came a Black Mercedes and a Land Rover car, from the aircraft.The cars were exact replicas of the ones used by Idi Amin,in order to befool the Ugandan forces, and before realisation dawned,.......the attack was on. All the terrorists,alongwith 45 Ugandan army personnel were killed. 3 hostages were also killed in the battle. The lone Israeli casualty was Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed by sniper fire. Incidentally, Col. Netanyahu's younger brother Binyamin Netanyahu later became the Prime Minister of Israel. The Israeli forces also destroyed 11 MiG 17 aircrafts which had been parked at Entebbe, in order to counter an Israeli attack. The Israeli forces which had taken a circuitous route to reach Entebbe, so that the Ugandan radars could not detect their approach, went back along with the hostages.

Operation THUNDERBOLT was over.

The statement of the Israelis before the U.N, when Uganda pressed for action against it, shows the determination this country possessed, the Israeli ambassador Chaim Herzog said:

" We come with a simple message to the Council: we are proud of what we have done because we have demonstrated to the world that a small country, in Israel's circumstances, with which the members of this Council are by now all too familiar, the dignity of man, human life and human freedom constitute the highest values. We are proud not only because we have saved the lives of over a hundred innocent people—men, women and children—but because of the significance of our act for the cause of human freedom."

September 15, 2008:

A Hong Kong registered and Panamanian owned cargo vessel MT Stolt Valor en route to Mumbai from the Suez, is hijacked off the coast of Yemen by Somali pirates. The crew on board the ship consist of 18 Indians, 2 Fillipinos, 1 Bangladeshi and one Russian. The ship is anchored in Somali waters till date.

The coast of Yemen has become the hot bed of seafaring pirates, with hijacking becoming big business. Like kidnapping in India, it is basically outsourced to the poor, with the real mafiosi taking over once the hijacking has taken place. Even last month, a ship with some Indian crew on board was hijacked, the crew were later on freed, not without ransom of course. Reportedly the Somalians have developed an expertise in this field with a town on the Somalian coast,boasting of citizenry, all of whom are involved in this art.

For more than 10 days , 18 Indians are in captivity inside their ship. As per information received by family members who established contact through satellite phone,the crew is fast running out of food and the hijackers are turning hostile.

Now sample the response of the Indian establishment towards these unfortunate souls.

The Indian Navy wants permission from the government to enter the Somali waters and rescue these sailors, who are facing an extremely hostile situation, for these pirates are ruthless and have no qualms in killing their hostages. After all they are professionals and cannot stay on if they do not receive ransom, for them it is waste of time, as they need to move on.

The MARCOS (Marine commandos) are itching for action,and the Navy is confident of its capabilities.The Navy Chief has sought permission for action. But the Indian leadership is clueless, as usual... .....

The defence minister A.K.Antony, a minister whose integrity is a rarity in these times, said ;

" The problem is that we have no agreement with Somalia on this. We are trying our best but the ship is at a Somali port and we have no agreement (to tackle the situation). We can act only as per the law,"

Excuse me, Mr. Minister!! What law prevents you from proceeding to save the lives of your citizens. Are these sailors in the lawful custody of the Somali govt? Did Israel wait for an agreement to act?

Sir, we are talking about lives, about families, about human dignity, ........about Indian citizens. Would the same alibi been given, if God forbid, one of the sailors was the kith and kin of a minister or a bureaucrat. Here we give elite security to the son- in- laws and daughter- in- laws of the powers that be, and we need laws to counter an unlawful situation!!

The Indian Navy is touted as a Blue Water navy, which has ambitions to defend the entire route from South East Asia till the Suez Canal . The tradition of the Indian Navy defending its borders and protecting its people in far off lands is nothing new. The Chola kings during the medieval period had a very strong navy, which protected its commercial interests. Once when Indian traders were harassed by Chinese sailors in South East asia,the Chola king despatched his navy to protect his traders there. The Chinese were defeated and stayed silent thereafter. Kanohji Angre, who led the navy of Shivaji,ensured that the Portugese were repulsed every time they approached the Indian ports.

Today the same Navy is being made to wait for orders from the govt.....Orders to save its own people.......UNFORTUNATELY.

Time is running out fast!

Time is of prime essence in cases like this. Remember the day when the hijacked IC 814 landed at the Amritsar airport for refuelling. The crisis management group of the govt. dithered, and the subsequent result needs no story telling.

Cut to the incident when the daughter of Mufti Mohd.Sayeed,the then minister of state for Home, was kidnapped by terrorists in 1989,and the prompt release of five terrorists in bargain. Do we need to brush up on the definition of Hypocrisy.

We Indians have the pretension of being a super power, the swagger of our economic growth (never mind 'honour killings, female foeticide, the fact that more than half the population lives in sub Saharan Africa like conditions) , but in fact we are the biggest pleaders in the World. We plead before our neighbours to stop instigating terrorism in our country, we plead with the terrorists spreading havoc in the country with a 'they are our brothers only' theme,(The latest statement from our designer clothes Home Minister), we mortgage our sovereignty before foreign superpowers for the sake of nuclear fuel, we plead before people spreading communal tension,our policemen plead before the truck drivers for their 'hafta' irrespective of the cargo they are carrying. The common man , well, he pleads for everything, reservation in trains, electricity, better roads, safety of his family,clean drinking water and what not.

In the instant crisis (although our leaders still do not think of it as one) , we look in askance before the U.S. whose navy patrols the Somali waters for the sake of the safety of their ships. Does this approach befits a country which wishes to see itself as a permanent member of the U.N security council? Even the French, who are renowned for their laid back approach towards life (perhaps the only country which strictly imposes its 35 hour per week policy at the work place) sent in their commandos to rescue an elderly French-Polynesian couple from their hijackers in Somali waters, a couple of months ago. A similar group of pirates had hijacked them in their private yatch. Imagine if people can be rescued from a yatch which is much smaller than a ship in area, what stops us?

Perhaps the fact that it is only a group of 18 people, which does not constitute a vote bank is holding our country back. Further, the mainstream media is also not bothered about this 'story' (except a few honourable exceptions), so the pressure to act is even less, not that it would have made any particular difference. The lack of media coverage has also resulted in the fact that a man on the street does not even know about this incident.

The Government is not bothered and has for all practical purposes left 18 Indians to their fate. The fact that the Govt.has also left 1 billion Indians to their fate is of no solace to the families of these sailors. The P.M is busy attending to his dream project aka the nuclear deal, the foreign minister has not uttered a single word regarding this incidence, the defence minister speaks of legalities,......................while 18 sailors and their hopes and families........drift away.

Decades ago, the same Idi Amin drove away thousands of Indians from Uganda without the Indian rulers of the day raising so much as a whimper. The story was nearly repeated in Kenya last year, when Indian owned establishments were ransacked and looted, while the Indian govt. refused to raise its voice in protest or when 13 B.S.F personnel were ambushed by the Bangladesh Defence Rifles personnel, on Indian territory, and paraded like dead animals.

Though it might sound outlandish and offensive, it is astounding to notice the lack of sense of identity we Indians have ,which is worsened by the lack of confidence we have in our abilities. For heavens sake, how long will we keep on looking towards others to save us. Did Raja Raja Chola ask for any help when traders from his kingdom were harassed in South East Asia sometime in 1000 A.D ? Did Shivaji ask Aurangzeb for help in order to protect his coast from the depredations of the Portugese?

If India has to achieve its full potential, the people must be made aware of the oneness of the nation, the sense of sharing a common heritage, the feeling that we as Indians may have a difference of opinion on various issues, we may differ on our religious and political affiliations , but India remains one , and no one, absolutely no one can be permitted to harm the nation and its people and get away with it, be it the terrorists, be it the pirates, be it the foreign countries inimical to us, or our very own people who care for nothing else but themselves and lining their pockets.

The price of an Indian citizen has to be made prohibitively expensive.

The country has to get behind the sailors. Pardon me for borrowing from the Home Minister although in a different context, while I call them 'our brothers', have to be brought home and brought home safely. We cannot fail them and the nation.

The nation cannot remain silent for eternity .