Madam is sleeping: Ex-envoy recalls call to Benazir Bhutto during 1991 hijack

"Madam is sleeping, cannot be disturbed", was the blunt response former Singapore envoy Bilahari Kausikan received when he tried to reach former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto during the 1991 hijack of a Singapore Airlines aircraft. Kausikan narrated the incident on Friday to justify his remark that Pakistani politicians were nothing but a "waste of time".

Kausikan recalled the incident at a global conference after a Pakistani journalist suggested that much of Islamabad's troubles stem from its borders with India and Afghanistan. Unconvinced, the former diplomat asserted that Pakistan's crisis is largely self-inflicted due to mismanagement by its leaders and the military.

"You cannot blame location on everything. That's an excuse. Pakistan has been mismanaged terribly since the beginning. Its politicians are a waste of time, all of them, regardless of parties, and the military is a big part of the problem," he said.

WHAT HAPPENED DURING 1991 HIJACK?

Kausikan then went on to narrate the 1991 hijack incident to explain why he thought Pakistani politicians were a "waste of time".

On March 26, 1991, a Singapore Airlines flight (SQ117) was hijacked by four Pakistani terrorists soon after it left the Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. The flight landed in Singapore's Changi Airport with 114 passengers and 11 crew members on board. The passengers were then held hostage by the 4 terrorists.

Kausikan, who was then serving in Singapore's foreign service, was tasked with negotiating with the hijackers.

"They were not very good hijackers because they allowed us to park the airliner in the precise spot that every airport prepares for hijack, so we can fix up things and have a look what's inside," Kausikan, who served as Singapore's ambassador to Russia and Finland, said.

"We never quite knew what was their demand, except that they wanted to talk to Benazir Bhutto, who was then out of power," he said. Several reports later claimed that the hijackers wanted to negotiate the release of several people jailed in Pakistan.

Bhutto served as Pakistan's PM twice before she was assassinated in 2007 in Rawalpindi. In 1991, the Pakistani Prime Minister was Nawaz Sharif. Kausikan recalled that Bhutto was not in Islamabad at that time, and was at her family estate in Sindh.

"It was my duty, as in the team, to try and get in touch with her," Kausikan said. He finally managed to get the contact of Bhutto's residence with the help of the then Pakistani High Commissioner. It was around 3 am in the dead of the night.

'MADAM IS SLEEPING, CANNOT BE DISTURBED'

More obstacles awaited. Kausikan soon found that hardly anyone in Bhutto's residence spoke anything other than Urdu.

"Once I got through to her house, I had to find somebody who spoke something other than Urdu. None in our team could speak Urdu. I finally got somebody who could speak English," he said.

Kausikan said the person on the line was likely some servant or member of the household. He then explained the situation to him, saying the hijackers indicated they would surrender if they could speak to Benazir Bhutto. Otherwise, they threatened to start killing the passengers.

"So, I explained this to the person three times," Kausikan said. However, the reply from the person left him flummoxed.

"Madam is sleeping, cannot be disturbed," Kausikan quoted the person as saying. The next second, he cut the call, the envoy said.

With negotiations hitting a dead end, the Singapore commandos stormed the aircraft and killed all the hijackers. "We still do not know, and we'll never know what they really wanted, because they are all dead," he said. All the passengers were safe.

Kausikan pointed out that the incident illustrated what he called the feudal nature of Pakistani society. "The story shows you have a very feudalistic society in Pakistan," he further said.

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