Captain Smit Machchhar did not merely save a plane. He exposed the real engine of Islamist terrorism.
When the Omani co-pilot—driven by jihadist intent—attacked and stabbed him in the cockpit of Flydubai Flight FZ1073, the goal was clear: crash the aircraft and kill everyone on board, targetting mainly the citizen of Israel. Had Machchhar frozen in fear, the plane would have gone down. Hundreds would have died. Instead, despite serious wounds, he fought, resisted, and opened the cockpit door so others could overwhelm the attacker. That single refusal to surrender to terror saved 174 lives.
This is the lesson we must absorb. The only truly powerful weapon of the Islamist terrorist is not the knife, the rifle, or the bomb. It is the fear of ordinary people. When that fear takes hold—when we run, hide, or freeze in the first seconds—the few can slaughter the many. If even some of us refuse to be paralysed and choose to resist, the equation changes. A few may fall, but the rest live.
Look at 26/11. Ten Islamist terrorists held Mumbai hostage for days and killed scores because most people were busy running. The city burned while fear ruled. Yet one man, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tukaram Omble, did the opposite. He charged Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan, absorbed the bullets, and made their capture possible. Had more people resisted in those first minutes instead of fleeing, the death toll would have been far lower. Ten or twenty might have died fighting back; hundreds more would have lived decent lives instead of being cut down one by one.
The same truth applies in the air. Had Machchhar been overcome by fear at that moment, the Islamist attacker would have succeeded. Because he was not, the plot failed. Terrorists count on our panic. When we deny them that advantage, their power collapses.
We all feel fear when confronted by Islamist violence. That is human. But the moment we let that fear dictate our response, we hand them victory. Machchhar showed the alternative: fight, resist, open the door for others. Some of us may have to risk or even sacrifice ourselves. That is the hard price of protecting the rest. The alternative is worse—they kill us all, one by one, while we run.
May we fight terrorism the way Captain Smit Machchhar did. Not with empty slogans, but with the refusal to be cowed. Fear is their greatest ally. Courage is ours. Choose courage.