Opinion | IC 814 Row: What's In A Name? Just A Reason To Outrage

(In light of the controversy over the Netflix series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack', here is a view on the 1999 hijack and its aftermath. Click here to read Sanjay Singh's counterview.)

We need to give the poor bard a break once in a while. Shakespeare is turning, once again, for the billionth time, in his grave because a situation has arisen that his words define the best. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." Cliches done and dusted, let's go to the issue at hand. Netflix's latest thriller drama, IC 814, has engendered an asinine outrage - rarely are outrages worth the GBs spent on them these days - involving names. 

Netflix India's head has been summoned by the centre because some busybodies, ignoring historical facts, have taken umbrage to the non-Muslim names of the Pakistani Muslim hijackers of the fated Air India flight number IC814.

Twenty-five years ago, the Indian government had to release Masood Azhar - now the boss of Jaish e Muhammad - along with two other terrorists in a bid to save 191 passengers and crew members. This happened after negotiating for seven days with five men of the Harkat ul Islam terror outfit, codenamed 'Chief', 'Burger', 'Shankar', 'Bhola' and 'Doctor', who hijacked the plane right after it took off from Kathmandu.

A Bigger Question

The Internet has been, predictably, awash with angry responses to the series using these codenames. It is the same people who are upset that Muslim actors, artists, et al, use "Hindu" names for popularity. This entire 'controversy' could have easily been ignored had it not led to top-down interventions.

RIP, freedom of speech, expression, and everything else with it when even the facts have to surrender to sentiments.

But here is the bigger question about names-what is, indeed, in a name? The recent outrage is in sharp contrast to the situation when many clapped enthusiastically in the cinema halls when Siddharth Malhotra played Captain Vikram Batra, the hero of the Kargil war, fought between India and Pakistan barely six months before IC-814 was hijacked. Captain Batra, before he was killed in action, went by an alias Shershah. Now think about Iftikhar, another film, another alias used by an army officer, Maj Mohit Sharma. 

Why People Take Aliases

It is a norm, not an aberration, for Indian armed forces personnel to use aliases during counter-insurgency and conflict situations. Their identity becomes the Trojan horse to infiltrate and destroy the enemy's defences. This is precisely what the enemy does, too. The entire breadth of tactical communication is predicated on aliases.

Concluding a study to assess "implicit and explicit attitudes toward Muslims and Christians within a predominantly Christian sample in the United States," juxtaposing names with adjectives, researchers Wade C. Rowatt, Lewis M. Franklin and Marla Cotton stated in 2005, "self-reported attitudes toward Christians were more positive than their self-reported attitudes towards Muslims". This is consistent with social identity theory. The findings of any such study are going to be similar in India. 

Armed forces personnel engaging in covert operations know it is easier to blend in when your name does not have unpleasant associations. And so do terrorists. The only people ignoring it are the frenzied internet warriors. But that's not surprising. The name 'conspiracy' is just another quick-to-find trigger. This time, however, the trigger probably masks a sense of institutional shame. The fact that Masood Azhar is still free and conveniently plotting and carrying out terrorist actions against India is an injury to the insult that the IC-814 hijacking was.  

What Should Really Rattle Us

What truly merits outrage is how the systems disallowed a timely follow-up on multiple intelligence warnings. Let's outrage how, despite endless domestic brouhaha over the role of Pakistan in the hijacking, we are yet to mount any case against the inter-services intelligence (ISI) agency in a global forum. Let us also express our outrage, since we are tireless, about how our security infrastructure has a thousand leaks, ensuring no timely action could be taken before the flight took off, first from Kathmandu and later from Amritsar. As senior police officer KPS Gill noted in his assessment of the event, even the telephone numbers of the Crisis Management Group listed at the Delhi Airport were incorrect. Let's outrage for accountability and systemic overhaul. Let's outrage because we do not have any coherent strategy to deal with our enemies, so we only either respond to the stimuli or busy ourselves fighting strawmen. 

But that outrage will not happen simply because it does not suit the narrative. Calling names and calling out for names are easier when faced with uncomfortable truths. 

(Nishtha Gautam is a Delhi-based author and academic.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author