Allama Iqbal International Airport (Lahore)

Allama Iqbal International Airport serves Lahore. It was formerly Lahore International Airport and is named after the poet Muhammad Iqbal; a new terminal opened in March 2003 (Airport Technology). Its place in Sikh history rests on one event, on 29 September 1981, when five hijackers led by Gajinder Singh, a co-founder of Dal Khalsa, forced an Indian Airlines flight with 111 passengers and six crew to land at Lahore.

Key moments

• 29 September 1981: the hijackers demanded the release of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other Sikhs (The Tribune).
• 30 September 1981: The Christian Science Monitor reported that Pakistani commandos disguised as sweepers boarded the aircraft, overpowered the five Sikhs and freed the remaining 44 hostages unharmed, ending a 20-hour hijack on the tarmac just over two hours before the hijackers’ deadline. The Tribune says all five were arrested on 30 September 1981, given 14 years by a special court, and finished their sentences on 31 October 1994.
• 3 July 2024: Gajinder Singh died of a heart attack in Pakistan, aged 74, and his last rites were held at the cremation ground of Gurdwara Nankana Sahib. In September 2020 the five high priests under Giani Harpreet Singh had decided to honour him with the title Jilawatan Sikh Yodha, but the ceremony could not be held. The Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh and the SGPC executive expressed condolences (The Tribune).

What it means today. The airport is not a Sikh shrine. It matters here as the place where a hijack made in support of Bhindranwale’s release ended, three years before 1984, and as the start of Gajinder Singh’s long life in Pakistan. The sources opened say nothing else about Sikhs and this airport.