Amid the ongoing controversy over the Netflix series IC814, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah spoke up about the difficult situation his father, Farooq Abdullah had to face during the hijack. He also added that the IC814 hijack was not the first time when his father had to set the prisoners free.

He further referred to an earlier case concerning Rubaiya Syed, the daughter of former Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was abducted by Kashmiri separatists in 1989. Abdullah informed that the Central Government, led by VP Singh, had released five jailed terrorists of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in exchange for Rubaiya's safe release.

"This is the second time my father was forced to release people. With Rubaiya Syed and the families of the hijacked victims, they used the Rubaiya Syed incident as the benchmark. They said when you could release terrorists for a home minister's daughter, is our family not precious? Why is it only she is precious to the country? Then if she is precious to you, then our family is precious to us. So we set a benchmark that had to be followed," Omar Abdullah said.

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Netflix's IC814: The Kandahar Hijack has sparked controversy with the government also criticisING the series saying that "nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of the people of this nation".

"Nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of the people of this nation. India's culture and civilization should always be respected. You should think before portraying something in a wrong manner. The government is taking it very seriously" said Government sources on why the Netflix content head was summoned.

Meanwhile, Omar Abdullah stressed that the precedent set during the Rubaiya Syed incident became a benchmark for the families of the hijacked individuals, who demanded equal consideration and safety during the IC814 hijack in 1999.

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"I think Government of India had an option. I think Government of India at the Rubaiya Syed kidnapping time had the option of not negotiating with terrorists. They chose to negotiate. After that, once you've done it once, then you have to do it again," Omar Abdullah said.

(With inputs from agency)