JK 1971: The story of a kind hijacking

Jean Kay was 28 years old in 1971. This Frenchman had fought in Biafra and Yemen. The horror of the war cut a deep impression in his mind. During his tenure of service he developed feeling and affection for the refugees and poor people. After returning from the war zone, he engaged himself in social work. He devoted himself to serve the poor. He became aware of the atrocities being committed by Pakistan army on the people of Bangladesh. He studied in depth the refugee problem and became aware of the lack of medicine and food supplies in the camps. He came to know through the newspapers about the large number of people, especially children dying in the camps. He decided to do something on his own for the helpless poor in the camps.

On December 3, 1971, Pakistan air force attacked the air fields of India adjacent to the border and subsequently Indian Government declared war on Pakistan. On that day Jean Kay, a French electronics technician prepared a meticulous plan and decided to execute it all by himself. He took a pistol and a small box containing wires and left for the Orly airport in Paris. He managed to board the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight 720B at Orly airport. Jean Kay selected the time and date of his operation because at that time the German Chancellor Willy Brandt was supposed to arrive at Orly airport for talks with French President Pompidou. He thought that security officials' attention would be diverted more towards the President and the Chancellor.

After the air craft left the boarding area, Jean Kay went into the cockpit with his pistol in his hand and ordered the pilots to cut the engine power. That was at 11:50 hours in the morning. He threatened the pilots with his pistol saying if they did not cooperate with him, they would be shot. He also threatened to destroy the air craft with a bomb which he said was inside the box being carried by him. Jean Kay got an interpreter among the passengers who could translate his French into English. The Pakistani passengers were terrified. However, he appeared to be courteous and did not harm anyone in the air craft. For six hours he kept the air craft under his control and kept on demanding his terms with the control tower. He demanded 20 tons of medical supplies and relief materials to be boarded on the air craft and flown to Bangladesh where refugees were sufferings. He also said that his terms are non-negotiable. Jean Kay threatened the people in the tower that any adventure made by law enforcing agencies would result in the destruction of the air craft and cause loss of human lives.

After long negotiation, the French authorities agreed to cooperate with Jean Kay. They informed him that the French Red Cross would arrange to deliver the medicine to the air craft and requested that no passengers were to be harmed.

A full-length movie is being made in Bangladesh based on such a freedom-loving man and the true story named ‘JK 1971’. It is being constructed by Fakhrul Arefin Khan, director of ‘Bhunban Majhi’ and ‘Gondi’. Masum Reza is scripting the film. There is only one song in it which is written in English by Nasim Ali Khan of Souls Band. He sang it also. And Partha Barua has taken the responsibility of directing the music of the whole film.

The producer made the official announcement of the film at a restaurant in the capital on Tuesday. Cultural personality M Hamid, musician Nasim Ali Khan, actress Trapa Majumder, Aparna Ghosh, actor Majnun Mizan and many more were present there.

At the press conference, Fakhrul Arefin Khan said that West Bengal actor Shuvro Sourav Das will play the role of Jean Kay. And the role of the pilot of the aircraft will be played by the Sabhyasachi Chatrakrabarti. In addition, 34 more actors will perform in it which has not yet been finalized. 

“On December 3, 1971, Jean Cay hijacked a Pakistani PIA-611 flight for Bangladesh at the Early Airport in Paris. How did this queue hijack the plane that day? What happened inside the plane? We want to highlight the whole thing on the screen.” Fakhrul Arefin Khan said.

It is learned that the shooting of the film will start in mid-April at Durgapur Airport in Kolkata. That is where the shooting of the drawn film will end. The film will be released on December 3 this year. Because it was on this day in 1971 that the hijacking took place.