India, Oct. 5 -- Less than a week after the Flydubai terror incident, questions around motive, operational failures and the possibility of a wider conspiracy have begun to dominate the discussion. In a conversation with Hindustan Times senior anchor Aayesha Varma, HT executive editor Shishir Gupta argued that the episode should not be reduced to online speculation or dismissed as a "lone wolf" act.

Gupta described the incident as a potentially catastrophic attempted terror attack that, if successful, could have reshaped the security and diplomatic environment in the Middle East. At the centre of the episode, he said, was the courage of Indian captain Smit Machchhar, who was attacked but still managed to raise an alert and help prevent th...