THE WORLD BANK GROUP ARCHIVES PUBLIC DISCLOSURE AUTHORIZED Folder Title: Notes and correspondence - Life and Death on a Tarmac - The Hijacking of PK326 by Jeffrey Balkind Folder ID: 30293587 Series: World Bank Group Field Coordinator security policy and planning Dates: 1/1/1981 – 12/31/1994 Fonds: Personal Papers of James L. Theodores ISAD Reference Code: WB IBRD/IDA WB_IBRD/IDA_109-02 Digitized: 2/13/2020 To cite materials from this archival folder, please follow the following format: [Descriptive name of item], [Folder Title], Folder ID [Folder ID], ISAD(G) Reference Code [Reference Code], [Each Level Label as applicable], World Bank Group Archives, Washington, D.C., United States. The records in this folder were created or received by The World Bank in the course of its business. The records that were created by the staff of The World Bank are subject to the Bank’s copyright. Please refer to http://www.worldbank.org/terms-of-use-earchives for full copyright terms of use and disclaimers. THE WORLD BANK Washington, D.C. © International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / International Development Association or The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org PUBLIC DISCLOSURE AUTHORIZED Arclir .. i~.. II III II /1111 /II /I IllI I IllII Ill III /I III ll/II ll I/ Iii <:. ~· 30293587 ··· ·· .. ·· A2016-001 0th # Notes and correspondence . Life er . 3 3970188 Jeffrey Ba/kind and Death on a Tarmac • The H" k' DECLASSIFIED !Jae ing of PK326 by Wll'Il . ,;~ STRICTION WBG Archives 202-667-7947 (H) ; 458-9116 1829- 19th, Street, N.W . Washington D.C. 20009 June 7, 1994 Jim Theodores 29 Hunter avenue, Newport Rhode Island 02840 Dear Jim, Thanks so much for your letters to me and Marshall. Saideh received hers and Ann Hammond told me you wrote to her. If you do not get your Afghanistan novel published (which I'm sure you will), we can publish the letters of Jim Theodores! You are so prolific and diligent. I am a terrible correspondent. Anyway, many thanks for your wonderful words of support, as always. I enclose the revised Chs. A-s, which include your suggestions and input. I hate to put you to work in making inputs to other chapters, so do as much or as little as you see fit. Your rounding out of Chs. 3-·4 with the Paijmans conversations and your thought processes was terrifically helpful to me, but see how you go. after all, san Francisco is wonderful to do more than read}revise a hijacking book. You will be interested in a letter I sent to Mark Tully of the BBC (a well­ known and highly respected senior correspondent of the BBC), through a trusted BBC reporter (Richard Downes) that I met here yesterday by chance (they were doing a story on the Bank including an interview with Mr. Preston) . So I went over to BBC's office in Washington this morning to meet briefly with Downes and he is sending my package (draft book, letter and press clippings) onto Tully. I am covering all bases as you can see. It turns out that Tully is a critical source because of that radio conversation that he had with Murtaza Bhutto in 1981. By the way, Murtaza Bhutto has been released on bail, but the charges against him have not been dismissed, contrary to what some people told me on Monday morning after hearing the recent BBC report. Thanks for your comments on my Bank's World article watch for the July issue with my photos of the buildings . Take care and have a lovely time in California. Warmly and a big hug from me, Tia, and Marshall. ,; .:··J ·.,' - ;, ,. -- 1. I was ordered into a window seat as were all the other men. This prevented attacks from the men hostages.Women were ordered into aisle seats.[ch.3] 2. Describe what the 3 hijackers were doing before the hijacking.[ch.3] 3. Add a lot more about how Alamgir was a lot nicer than most hijackers,for example he cared about the hostages.[almost all chs.] 4. CHANGE TO REAL NAMES?[all chs.] 5. Add what Jim Theodores was doing during the hijacking.[his conversations with the State Department and Tia] [almost all chs.] 6. Revise the 1st ch.? [if so,Marshall's version] 7. Hijacking political.chance of survival less criminal.[draw link back to Leila Khaled] 8. Put in photo of Dad's telex.[ch.8] 9.No relief plane, no relief arrangements. In Kabul or Damascus. [contrast to JAL hijacking] 10. Add pictures that Marshall drew on a computer.[chs. which need them] 11. Tell what impact this event has had on you, do you look at life differently? How did you overcome the strong memories? [last ch.] 12. Military training helped me survive through this event[familiarity with weapons] 13. Expand on what you felt about Alamgir and the whole event. [almost all chs.] 14. Understanding why the hijackers hijacked the plane can make it less scary or more scary,depending on the cicrumstances, in this case avenging Ali Bhutto's death.[ch.4 and ch.8?] 15. Thoughout ch.2 put a small photo of the person, his or her name,a paragraph about him or her etc. etc. <, Al 16. Do you give in to a hijacker's demands? 1 7. Find pictures that are appropriate for the chs. they will begin. 18. Police/ the Army wanted to do a Swat operation but the authorities would not allow it.[this only happened in Damascus] [chs.12 and 13] 19. Retitle ch.14 Release from PK 326? 20. Add more detail to, and update ch.16. 21. Expand on your relationship with Alamgir. 22. Take out the entire of ch. 18 23. Research origin of the word "hijack" and ask Joan more about the origin of the word "tarmac". 24. Check flight time from Karachi to Peshawar. 25. Describe the conversations betwen the control tower and Alamgir. 26. Discuss writing the book and how it has driven your fears away. Also discuss how you met Professor St. John.[Epilogue] 27. Alamgir asked for 93 prisoners but he was told that 39 could not be found,this was just a excuse for keeping the 39 most important prisoners in jail in Pakistan. 28. Add that it is a sad story for Alamgir because he was reasonably well educated and had a kind heart but he got into the hijacking business and got executed for it. So he never got to live a peaceful and happy life. It just ended all too soon. l Phone: 202-667-7947 (H): 458-0506 (W) 1829- 19th. Street. N.W. Washington D .C. 20009 March 11 . 1993 Professor Peter St.John. 200 Dromore A venue Winnipeg Manitoba Canada R3MOJ3 Dear Peter. As discussed, I am pleased to be able to come up to Manitoba for your March 22 class J iscussion. Today I call ed Professor Mcvicar to thank him for giving me your home phone number two nights ago. Are all Canadians so charming? Regarding material that I will bring up with me for use in the class presentation. this will include: ( i) my 19 slides taken on board during rhe event (in color); (ii) copies of the March 16, 1981 :'slew York Times (from page) article on our incident. a Time Magazine article. and one from Newsweek (the Time anicle. in particular. was quite predictive -- "Bound to Encourage Others " -- the heading reads); and (iii) my draft book of 160 plus pages long (for your and Barbara's eyes only, the table of contents and title page enclosed -- please take care with it, as I have not yet copyrighted my book -- I will do so soon). Incidentally, a large picture of me appeared on page six of that same NY Times article that I mentioned (I will bring a copy of that page as well), so the veneer of my pen­ name (Alistair Smith) will soon peel off if my manuscript is one day published. All of the materials that I am bringing can be displayed in the classroom in advance (except perhaps "the book"). Regarding my book. each chapter will start with a full-page blow-up photo of the various characters shown in my slides to illustrate "Faces in the Crowd" -- the characters that are described in Ch. 2 of my book (the scene at Karachi terminal Building before boarding the flight of PK326). I introduce the key persons like a Playbill. Overall. there are three themes in my docudrama: (i) it is written as a human interest. survival story of an incident that could happen to anyone. as it did to me in March 1981 aboard Pakistan International Airways (page 36 of your excellent book (1991); (ii) it contains sufficient historical/political material for the reader to understand the context, which is very important to disentangling the web involved in this 13-day saga; and (iii) it captures the theme that the Subcontinent is a very violent place where religious and ethnic strife can flare up in an instant (see the book on Partition: Freedom at Midnight for example). While the specifics of my story are about Pakistan, Afghanistan. Syria, and a little on Libya and India (my Manila dream sequence of the night of Raj iv Gandhi's slaying is my flashback entry point into the story), there is , I believe, a good deal of universality to this story. And that is what I endeavour to bring out. How successful I am depends on the particular perspective of the reader.