Pan Am hijack: Indian victims still await justice

It has been 25 years since 21 passengers and crew members of the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 were shot dead by terrorists at the Karachi airport. While American citizens aboard the aircraft have been compensated by the US, justice still eludes the Indian victims and their families.
The US government's decision to compensate only its citizens from a fund of over $ 1.5 billion received from the Libyan government headed by Muammar Gaddafi in 2008, came as a rude shock to the bereaved families. Their pain is exacerbated by the indifferent and insensitive attitude of the Indian government.
Over 120 Indian victims, including the families of 13 killed in the incident, have formed an association known as 'The Families from Pan Am Flight 73', to pursue their case with the Indian and US authorities.
They believe the US government has been "ungrateful" by denying compensation to the Indian victims from the Libyan corpus as it was largely because of the presence of mind and valour shown by senior flight purser Neerja Bhanot that many American lives were saved. The terrorists had support from the Libyan government which wanted to avenge US attack on its soil.
12/11/11 India Today

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Categories: Foreign Nov 2011, Safety Nov 2011