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Neerja Bhanot always stood for justice, says brother Akhil
Neerja Bhanot gave up her life, two days before she would have turned 23, to save passengers during a terrorist-hijack of a Pan-Am flight at Karachi international airport in Pakistan on September 5, 1986.
Neerja Bhanot’s brother Aneesh Bhanot released a book titled ‘Neerja Bhanot: The Smile of Courage’ at Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh, on Sunday.
On the occasion, Neerja Bhanot’s elder brother Akhil Bhanot, who was the chief guest, revealed that he used to call her ‘Laado’. He said she was the ideal daughter. She always stood up for justice.
He also discussed her love for music and more.
Aneesh Bhanot, the author of the book, said he wrote the book because people always ask him to talk about her.
The book comprise 10 chapters and several photographs, the foreword has been written by Vivek Atray. It also comprises pictures of the notes and letters that she had penned down.
Baljeet Parmar and VP Prabhakar, both veteran journalists, were guests of honour.
Parmar said Neerja used to visit her father in Bombay while she was studying. He added that her father was attending a press conference when word got out about the hijacked flight.
Neerja Bhanot gave up her life, two days before she would have turned 23, to save passengers during a terrorist-hijack of a Pan-Am flight at Karachi international airport in Pakistan on September 5, 1986. Neerja, who was the senior flight purser of Pan-Am 73 (Bombay-Karachi-Frankfurt-New York) flight, was killed in the shoot-out following the hijack. Palestinian terrorists from the Abu Nidal terrorist group had entered the aircraft posing as Pakistani Police personnel, carrying arms and hand grenades.
The hijack had left 20 people dead and 150 others injured after a bloodbath at Karachi airport. There were over 200 Indian passengers on the flight, of which 13 died while over 100 were injured.
