It is not often that one comes across an international mystery thriller at the highest level of world leaders, a sort of super-who-dunnit in this case featuring, President Soekarno of Indonesia Prime Minister Nehru of India and Chou-en Lai of Communist China in the dastardly act of mass murder. The incident is the act of sabotage that caused the crash of the chartered Air-India International Super-Constellation, the Kashmir Princes, carrying a party of Communist Chinese journalists to the first Non-aligned Summit Conference at Bandung, Indonesia, in April 1955. The case was solved because of he meticulous investigation carried out by an Inquiry Commission appointed by the Government of Indonesia, and the co-operation freely offered by Air India officials, British officials in Hong Kong and by ships of the Royal Navy and the Navy of Indonesia. Colonel A.K. Mitra (late of Ninth Gorkha Rifles) and at that time serving as the Military, Naval and Air Attache in the Indian Embassy in Djakarta, was the Indian member of the Inquiry Commission. In 1955, both India and Indonesia were newcomers to the international comity of free nations states-somewhat green around the edges and to yet inured to the polity of international skullduggery. This “new Asia†was still innocent of the ruthlessness of the “dirty tricks†departments of the C.I.A. (or M.I.6 and other western Intelligence agencies); and the realization that an unarmed, civilian air liner carrying non-belligerents could be deliberately destroyed in mid-flight in order to prevent Communist China’s participation in a non-aligned conference, cause a sense of revulsion and horror among Asian peoples. “A.K.†has given us a very interesting account, combining accurate reportage of an official investigation with his personal knowledge of the men and events concerned – all served up with a fluent style. A Good read.
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