It isn't only entrepreneurs and investors who are watching Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ongoing trip to the US.

Also paying close attention to him are six people from Bengaluru who were either passengers on the hijacked plane Pan Am 73 in 1986, or had relatives on board that flight. Last week, ahead of Modi’s US visit, Dr Kishore Murthy, a passenger aboard the flight, and five others renewed their representation to the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office asking India to lobby the US government for the compensation they say is rightfully owed to them.

The passengers have long argued that the Indians on board the flight have not got their due from the US. They claim that they too should have been awarded compensation, just like the 41 American passengers did. After all, they say, the attack took place in an American aircraft, Americans were the main targets and Indians became collateral damage.

The flight from Mumbai to New York with 360 passenger abroad was hijacked when it made a routine stop to pick up passengers in Karachi. Indians formed about 25% of the passengers on board. Of the 20 passengers who were killed in the 17-hour hostage crisis, 12 were Indian. Among them was chief purser Neerja Bhanot, whose bravery and alertness prevented even more deaths.

Libya payout

In 2008, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, paid out a $1.5 billion settlement to the US government for various terror attacks connected to Libya. This was for global resolution of all terror cases pending against Libya, the Indians passengers claim, intended for affected people of all nationalities.

The settlement was meant to cover attacks including the Lockerbie bombing and the hijacking of Pam Am 73 involving the Libya-supported Palestinian Abu Nidal group.  The US paid out $10 million for each American who was killed on the Pan Am flight, $3 million for those were sustained injured and $500,000 for the rest of its citizens who were aboard the plane.  But Washington has said its existing laws do not allow it to pay compensation to non-Americans.

This is what the Indian passengers are hoping Modi will remedy. “There is both hope and opportunity for government-to-government negotiation on this issue,” said Dr Veena Bharathi, the wife of Dr Kishore Murthy, who has been pursuing the issue for several years. “There needs to be dynamic dialogue between the authorities.”

She said that US President Barack Obama had the power to amend the Libyan Claims Resolution Act to ensure equal compensation for non-US citizens as well. The US had earlier offered only one-seventh of the amount awarded to US citizens to foreign nationals.

It is not known if this issue is on the prime minister's agenda, but the group believes the files are with a government official who is part of the delegation to the US. Modi is scheduled to meet Obama at the White House on Monday.

The passengers' latest representation contains all the documents relating to the case, previous letters, high court orders and news reports.

Court directions

Aneesh Bhanot, Neerja’s brother, based in Chandigarh, said his letters to the authorities in the past six months had gone unanswered. “The PM keeps on saying as he did in Ireland that Indians have become very strong and powerful in the world and can look anybody in the eye without hanging their heads in shame,” Bhanot said. “But we want to see what comes of his visit this time. We hope the issue will be raised.”

Last year, Bhanot had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a direction to the government to act in the matter. In May last year, the court directed the government to look into Bhanot’s representation in May.

At the time, the ministry of civil aviation had said at the time that Bhanot’s case had “some merit”, and forwarded the file to the ministry of external affairs to take it up with the US authorities. “The stand being taken by the US authorities is totally unjustified and smacks of rank discrimination,” said the letter that UK Bhardwaj, undersecretary in the civil aviation ministry sent to the external affairs ministry. How can they pick and choose among passengers travelling on the same flight?”

Dashed hopes

The letter emphasised that it was the “bounden duty” of the US government to ensure everyone was equally compensated, using the Libyan government’s settlement amount. “If the laws in the USA are posing any impediment in this regard, it is the duty of the US government to amend these laws so that all those who have suffered due to such attacks on US aircrafts, or ships, are eligible for compensation.”

The Indian passengers had a burst of hope earlier this year, when government officials made encouraging sounds ahead of US President Barack Obama visit to India in January. But eventually, there was no progress on the issue.

The passengers’ group said some of their other broader concerns also remained unaddressed, such as what would happen if a similar hostage situation erupted aboard an American airline again. “Looking at the past discriminatory policy, it would be important to know if Indians would be abandoned again?” said a note from the Indian Victims of Pan Am 73 group. “In case the USA airlines are not able to provide a satisfactory answer, then their license to operate from India should be suspended.”