Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Jaish terrorists attack CRPF convoy in Kashmir, 40 killed

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Originally posted by Oracle View Post
    Jaish chief injured in Rawalpindi hospital blast?

    [ATTACH]47737[/ATTACH]
    [ATTACH]47738[/ATTACH]
    [ATTACH]47739[/ATTACH]
    [ATTACH]47740[/ATTACH]
    All there is, is speculation that he's been bumped off by the PA

    What is the truth about Masood Azhar? | ANI | Jul 11 2019


    After Masood Azhar has been put on the UN terrorists list, in fact, he has become quite embarrassing for Pakistan, first of all because of the sword of Damocles of the FATF blacklist hanging on his head. Pakistan has been asked to do more against its terrorist outfits, and hiding an international terrorist into an official army shelter is not a good option at the moment.

    Being forced to hand Masood Azhar to an international court or to India, however, is a worse option: a trial against him would be a trial against the army and the ISI who started, trained and used the Jaish-i-Mohammed against India and in Afghanistan. There are, of course, other ways to kill somebody, especially somebody in a military hospital, ways more discreet and clean, and there are many holes and loops in this story. But, as they say, where there's smoke there's always fire. And the truth now or later will come out.
    If that is the case then why is Hafeez Saeed and numerous other UN designated terrorists still alive & kicking in Pakistan ?

    Why did Azhar become inconvenient to the PA all of a sudden. That is if he isn't alive any more.

    Comment


    • ^ Good find. Your questions are valid. In Pakistan, only the PA makes chicken tandoori on a daily basis, so it's probable Massod is lying 6 feet under, his grave dug by ISI thugs.

      I said a year or two back APS Peshawar was a Pakistani Army job. Remember? If you believe this author, whose articles I also believe to an extent, then you know I was right then. Great find.

      And yeah, the father of Taliban, Sami-ul-Haq's killing too was a PA job. I think I made this point too, if not, my apologies, should have spoken.

      Can you believe the stink and rot coming on a daily basis from this hell of a country?
      Last edited by Oracle; 12 Jul 19,, 16:58.
      Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Oracle View Post
        I said a year or two back APS Peshawar was a Pakistani Army job. Remember? If you believe this author, whose articles I also believe to an extent, then you know I was right then. Great find.
        Did you ? i read that in the article and it was just too difficult to swallow. It made no sense whatsoever. Think about it. How do you maintain morale if you eat your own ?

        She did not say it btw, she is quoting Pak journalists.

        Convince me. Otherwise I'm sticking to TTP doing APS Peshawar because that is what happens when you use F16's to go after militants. Photos of Miran Shah showing its a ghost town. Proof positive that the PA was acting on terrorists albeit selectively and TTP only. Proof positive that the PA can act against terrorism if they want to.

        And yeah, the father of Taliban, Sami-ul-Haq's killing too was a PA job. I think I made this point too, if not, my apologies, should have spoken.
        This i can buy as a PA job. He was a road bump for their plans.

        Can you believe the stink and rot coming on a daily basis from this hell of a country?
        Whatever she says, bumping him off in secret isn't cutting it for outside watchers. If true, this has more of a disciplining effect for other terrorist leaders as in they know who is the boss. Then again these are not the kind to care

        Hauling him in, on AT charges, and then convicting him is more persuasive.

        Charging isn't enough, only convictions.
        Last edited by Double Edge; 12 Jul 19,, 20:13.

        Comment


        • Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
          Did you ? i read that in the article and it was just too difficult to swallow. It made no sense whatsoever. Think about it. How do you maintain morale if you eat your own ?

          She did not say it btw, she is quoting Pak journalists.

          Convince me. Otherwise I'm sticking to TTP doing APS Peshawar because that is what happens when you use F16's to go after militants. Photos of Miran Shah showing its a ghost town. Proof positive that the PA was acting on terrorists albeit selectively and TTP only. Proof positive that the PA can act against terrorism if they want to.
          Yes I did. PA used TTP, like they use all other terrorist groups. Maybe a year or two back. I read an article (western journalist) about the PA's connections with the TTP, and was doing some research, when I came upon this Pak journalist who was bumped off. He (Pak journo, you know him) made that disclosure. He was afraid that the PA will kill him, and wanted to get out of Pakistan, but it was too late for him. He exposed the PA's connection with the TTP. You're the search expert, find it out, and post it here, I want to read that again. Maybe I'll add something, or edit some of my views now.

          The Peshawar school attack was, probably engineered, to divert Pak civilians attention from something at that time. I don't remember. I can only give you the dots, you have to connect those and figure out the big picture. Do remember, I am not saying these, I've quoted Pak journalists, even though I know that the PA is capable of genocide of its own people. It's proven.

          Whatever she says, bumping him off in secret isn't cutting it for outside watchers. If true, this has more of a disciplining effect for other terrorist leaders as in they know who is the boss. Then again these are not the kind to care

          Hauling him in, on AT charges, and then convicting him is more persuasive.

          Charging isn't enough, only convictions.
          This I will believe, when I read some more sources, not that I don't believe Francesca. If this indeed happened, then your bold part is correct.

          What you need to understand is the immense pressure Pakistan is under right now. Economic, foreign, internal. They are being screwed by all. Does make sense to bump off Masood and not convict him. Who knows what the Americans might ask for in future? Hand over Masood to India? If I were one among the PA/ISI, I'd kill him, and ask others to get in line.

          Imran has been summoned by Trump in Washington. This is not a courtesy call. He will be kicked behind closed doors.
          Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

          Comment


          • Pakistan not to open airspace until India de-escalates: official

            Pakistan wants India to remove its fighter jets from FOB for them to open up their airspace. I say not needed. Let Pakistan sink into more debt.
            Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

            Comment


            • Hafiz Saeed challenges terror financing cases in LHC

              After actions against Pak dies down, he will be set free to produce more jihadi piglets.
              Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

              Comment


              • Summary of Katju's thoughts over the last few months

                Comment


                • Absolutely agree with the above video.

                  Top Pakistani Jaish commander among 2 terrorists killed in Kashmir encounter

                  Pakistan Army is not mending its ways. Seems they have decided to lose blood and territory next.
                  Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by Oracle View Post
                    Absolutely agree with the above video.
                    There is an important point he begins with. That the military success overshadowed the diplomatic success. He does not go into more detail because he does not want to deny the military their rightful due but in reality its the diplomatic success that is the more important from a military pov. Bottom line is our diplomats won the Kargil war for us.

                    The Paks had established around 140 pickets & posts on our side of the LOC before we engaged. Best estimates is the military managed to vacate 40-45 of them. This is three months later at the high cost of over 500 lives and fighting in the mountains. Mountains eat men. Lots of artillery & air power required to dislodge just those 40-45 AND with the restriction we could not cross the LoC (#@#!@)

                    So what about the remaining 100 ? Imagine what the the costs would be if only the military had to do it. Would have taken a good year to dislodge all of them at 4x extra on top of what we already incurred.

                    This is where the diplomats come in. This part, Pervez for all his tactical genius had not anticipated. When Nawaz went to the US there was huge pressure on him to pull back. So the Paks had to voluntarily retreat from those 100 or so posts still in their possession. International pressure brought on by actions of our diplomats for reasons that Katju then explains.
                    Last edited by Double Edge; 02 Aug 19,, 22:14.

                    Comment


                    • After Balakot: What Is The End Game?

                      The main question I have about the entire post-Pulwama activity is about the end-game. What is the final resolution? What is India’s intent? What can India realistically expect to achieve, given the sad loss of life, as well as the various constraints we face?

                      On the one hand, there’s at least one good thing that came out of the entire exercise: the recognition of a military hero. Wing-Commander Abhinandan Varthaman has inspired Indians like few have before him. There were other heroes whom we never shown due respect to: Captain Saurabh Kalia, captured, mutilated, tortured and murdered during Kargil, 1999. Major Shaitan Singh, Param Vir Chakra (posthumous), and 13th Kumaon, C Company, who fought to the last man at Rezang La, 1962.

                      There is also no respect paid to Emperor Rajendra Chola, who, exactly 1001 years ago, sent a fleet across the Indian Ocean to defeat the maritime Srivijaya Empire in Sumatra. I saw his resting place is a miserable little shed. The victory stambha celebrating Marthanda Varma’s epic win over the Dutch in 1741 at Colachel is now a broken pillar surrounded by cow patties and overgrown with grass.

                      This is not how others celebrate their war heroes. To cite just one example, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became famous in the first place because his brother Yonathan was the only Israeli officer, who died in the Entebbe rescue in 1976. To take another, John Kennedy became US president partly on the strength of his leadership of a patrol boat in the Second World War.

                      So I am delighted that for practically the first time since independence, a war hero has been feted by the nation. As I write this, it’s been a few days since the nail-biting drama of his release, which the Pakistanis exploited to the hilt. The usual suspects in the media were also full of fulsome praise for Imran ‘peace-gesture-deserves-Nobel-prize’ Khan, though he had no choice in the matter other than to release the prisoner of war (PoW) under the Geneva Convention.

                      I was quite sure that the Pakistanis would drive a hard bargain for the release of Abhinandan, and I wondered about the quid pro quo. India has done poorly in hostage situations in the past, notably in the 1989 kidnap of Rubaiya Sayeed, sister of Mehbooba Mufti. Of course, the caving in in Kandahar in 1999 was even more outrageous. By giving in to terrorism in both cases, India invited huge costs on itself down the road, most strikingly with Masood Azhar, who was released then. The 1971 release of 93,000 Pakistani PoWs with no quid pro quo was clearly a Himalayan blunder, probably without parallel in the annals of war.

                      Thus India has been an easy mark and a poor negotiator. And once again, India is doing the dossier-bombing tango, as it has done fruitlessly after every incursion: Pathankot, Uri, to mention a few.

                      I wondered if the bargain included things India has been keeping quiet about — satellite photos of the downed F-16 or the destroyed structures in Balakot. I don’t know, and most of us outside the charmed circles that do these things don’t know either. But given two things: one, the massive photo op the Pakistanis turned the release of Abhinandan into, and two, the furious support given to them by the Lutyens commentariat and the American #deepstate media, I am now inclined to believe there was no covert deal behind the scenes.

                      Perhaps others leaned on the Pakistanis. The Americans are furious about two things: their much-lauded F-16 has been shown up badly even in the hands of a top-gun Pakistani pilot, as it was shot down by an aging MiG-21. Secondly, they surely don’t want to be reminded again of their foolish largesse to Pakistan over the years in giving them war material and then finding it’s used in violation of end-user agreements. We could have told them so, and probably did, but this time it’s out in the open.

                      I suspect Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who, after all, is sugar daddy to the Pakistan Army, may also have given the Pakistanis a little lecture. Here was Mohammed bin Salman on a tour of India and China, trying to drum up support for his regime, which is rocked by the shameful optics of the Yemen war, and stained by the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He needs friends, and he has no particular reason to irritate India at this moment in time.

                      The Organisation of Islamic Countries also did not leap to Pakistan’s defence with its usual alacrity. The fact that they invited India as a guest of honour pissed off the Pakistanis so much that they boycotted the event in Abu Dhabi. (There might have been other reasons: Pakistan is so short of jet fuel, as Naren Menon suggested in an insightful analysis on opindia.com “Behind the red alert: There’s more to the airspace lockdown in Pakistan than meets the eye”, they can’t do frivolous things like fly some minister to Abu Dhabi)

                      Even the ever-dependable Chinese did not provide their usual pretzel-logic explanations of why they are shielding Pakistani terrorists. They, too, are a little rattled by the US-led trade war and their slowing economy, and Pakistan, they know, have no choice but to accept whatever they do: note the deafening silence from Pakistan about the brutal oppression of Xinjiang Muslims.

                      Thus, India had a fair amount of support from countries fed up with every terrorist incident showing Pakistani fingerprints. Besides, Indians are not in any mood to compromise their interests in the pursuit of chimerical peace with Pakistan any more.

                      In addition, the Pakistanis milked the Abhinandan’s release for all it’s worth, delaying it for hours and then producing a clearly doctored video with the Wing Commander praising the ‘gentlemanly’ treatment he received at the hands of the Pakistanis, even though he had been beaten up, his face bloodied, and I hear, his spine damaged. He may also have been injected with some disease: we don’t know.

                      But, all told, much better than what happened to bonafide PoW Saurabh Kalia. The poor Captain and his men, Arjun Ram, Bhanwar Lal Bagaria, Bhika Ram, Moola Ram and Naresh Singh of 4 Jat Regiment, were tortured for three weeks, Wikipedia says, with the Pakistanis “burning their bodies with cigarettes, piercing the ear-drums with hot rods, puncturing eyes before removing them, breaking most of their teeth and bones, fracturing their skulls, cutting the lips, chipping of nose, chopping off limbs and private organs of the soldiers, and finally shooting them dead”.

                      Combined with the beheadings and mutilations of other troops on the Line of Control (LoC), this gives us an idea of how the Pakistani side normally behaves: as barbaric raiders rather than a professional army. That they were forced to quickly release Abhinandan is a secondary indication of the fact that “New India” is different.

                      On the one hand, given India’s growing economic clout, as the fifth largest economy in real terms (having just overtaken Britain), the rest of the world is interested in selling things to a “billion Indians”. And things have come a long way from the dark days of 1971, when the Indian plan to liberate the then-East Pakistan was condemned by an overwhelming 104-11 in the United Nations General Assembly, with the USSR, Cuba and Bhutan among the few on India’s side.

                      But the mainstream media (MSM), both in Lutyens India and in the West, is reflexively anti-India. Pakistan is a master at catering to their prejudices, and so milked the optics of the situation to the max, as though by releasing Abhinandan, the problem had been solved. Shortly after that, they floated the rumour that Masood Azhar, is dead or dying. A brilliant diversionary tactic, which also throws a crumb to Indians, suggesting the plausible scenario of ‘proof’ that the Balakot strike did kill a number of terrorists (which is hotly denied by the MSM, and quoting them, by bottom feeding politicians in India).

                      The problem is that Masood Azhar is not the issue. Nor is the ‘magnanimous’ return of Abhinandan. We cannot get distracted by them from the main issue: the end of terrorism by Pakistan as state policy. Pakistan has an exploding population, and terrorists are born every day who can be cheaply indoctrinated and turned into a force-multiplier that the army and China have plausible deniability about. That nexus has to come to an end.

                      That is the prize we have to keep our eyes on. And if that requires the disintegration of Pakistan into five or so states, that should be actively encouraged by India: a restive Balochistan that is already almost gone, Sind, the former North-West Frontier Province which, with the Durand line erased (it already expired some years ago after its 99-year treaty period) can join Afghanistan, and Balawaristan, the areas of Gilgit, Skardu and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

                      This is not my analysis alone: it comes from the CIA’s war game scenarios, and my friend Arvind Kumar wrote about this recently in “Redrawing borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan will lead to peace, stability”. With this breakup, the rump Punjabi Pakistan will no longer have the ‘strategic depth’ its army and ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) have craved forever. Think of it along the lines of America doing ‘regime change’.

                      Pakistan peaked too soon. There is hubris: they smelt big gains in Afghanistan as US President Donald Trump indicated that he wanted to declare victory and run for the exit, as former president Barack Obama did. That prompted the Pakistani Army and associated terrorists to mount three suicide operations: one on 13 February killing 27 of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on the Iran-Afghanistan border; the Pulwama bombing on 14 February, and the Helmand bombing on 28 February killing 32 Afghan troops.

                      Pakistan assumed that, with its proxy Taliban winning in Afghanistan, it can take on all three of its neighbours with the same tactic. Perhaps strategic over-reach, like China’s, which has boomeranged on them. Ahamkaram often leads to nemesis.

                      That hubris has been punctured in another way too: Pakistan has used strategic irrationality as a tool for years, threatening that it would escalate to tactical nuclear weapons because it was sure to lose a conventional war with India. Thus the specter of escalation to a nuclear war was supposed to hang over India like a Damocles’ sword, and successive Congress governments used that as an excuse to back off from severe retaliation against Pakistan for terrorism.

                      The current government has overcome this fear factor. Indeed, the strategic ambiguity is from the Indian side now. Let us note that in the wake of the Balkot attack, the Pakistan raid on India, and the Abhinandan transfer, the Indian government has said nothing at all about de-escalation, or talks, or anything conciliatory. India is keeping all its options open, including for punitive raids, or blockades. It has moved 10 columns of troops to Jammu and Kashmir, and Indian submarine INS Kalvari has been seen 150 miles off Karachi, as per the Pakistanis themselves.

                      These are signals. India is signaling that there will no abrupt caving in, in the face of “international pressure” (of which there was actually none), or “international media censure” (of which there was plenty from the usual suspects like New York Times, The Economist, Financial Times, The Guardian, et al.) Apparently, the Indian government doesn’t give a damn any more what these journalists say.

                      By violating Pakistani air space and bombing Balakot, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has exposed Pakistani lack of capability. Their fancy Chinese radars were jammed and the IAF faced no opposition in its sortie, and the planes delivered their payloads and returned. This is hugely shameful for Pakistan, because Balakot is not that far from Rawalpindi, their army headquarters. It was an emphatic statement that India will use the standard tactical option of “hot pursuit” into Pakistan. The use of Israeli munitions and electronic warfare systems, as well as an AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System), stepped up the game.

                      The question of whether the Balakot strike successfully obliterated a major Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp, and whether it killed Masood Azhar and other JeM bigwigs is still up in the air, but it doesn’t matter. That’s why the Pakistani disinformation campaign about the death of Masood Azhar was a one day’s wonder. Nobody actually cares about that individual, only the end-game. The fact that India is able to and will do aerial operations is a fact that Pakistani generals have to worry about.

                      There are several other open questions as well. The IAF did well to repulse the Pakistani incursion into J&K, with the intent of attacking military installations, which according to India were not harmed. The fact that F-16s were used (the AMRAAM missile is definitive proof) and that one of them was shot down is also widely accepted: even the Pakistanis had claimed in their initial communiques that two IAF planes had been downed and three pilots who bailed out had been captured. So there were three parachutes with pilots ejecting from their planes.

                      What happened to the others, other than Abhinandan? It is said that the F-16 was flown by one Shahbazuddin, a top gun in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), and that when his plane went down, locals who chanced upon it mistook him for an Indian and beat him to death. Perhaps that is true, but then where is the third airman? What happened to him?

                      There are several possibilities here. One is that the shame of being shot down was so great that the ISI and Pakistani Army themselves murdered Shahbazuddin. Or did he die from injuries sustained during the dogfight or while landing? Where is his co-pilot?

                      Where, indeed, is the wreckage of the F-16, for conclusive evidence that it was shot down by the Indian MiG? India surely has satellite imagery.

                      What brought Abhinandan’s MiG-21 down? Was it a missile from the F-16, or was it ground fire? If it was ground fire, was it anti-aircraft fire from PoK, or was it some kind of surface-to-air missile (like a Stinger) on the Indian side of the LoC? That last would be a serious danger to Indian civilian aircraft as well. Did the Pakistan convoy of 24 aircraft deliberately try to lure the MiGs who engaged them to cross the LoC because they wanted to have a showpiece PoW?

                      Did people in India know about the coming Pulwama attack? Obviously the suicide bomber and his accomplices knew (it appears as though most of them, including his handler, have been wiped out), but did others know? Before Godhra, in 2002, online chatter in the US was agog that something was going to happen. Similarly, were there those who knew something was going to go down?

                      Finally, what’s next? Is India going to lower its guard, now that the Pulwama massacre is fading from public memory? This has happened before: after the Parliament attack in 2001, India massed troops at the border in Operation Parakram, and there was the chance of full-fledged war. But then the Godhra train fire happened, and the troops had to be redeployed, and the window of opportunity was lost.

                      Are we seeing a replay? Is the Indian public’s anger and anguish over Pulwama going to come to naught, and it will be business as usual for Pakistan and its state support of terrorism? That is not a good end game.
                      Old article. Much water has flown under the bridge since.
                      Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

                      Comment


                      • Argh!

                        Five IAF officers found guilty in Feb 27 Srinagar chopper crash | ANI | Aug 23 2019

                        Sources said that during the probe, it had emerged that the officers handling air defence responsibilities at the Srinagar air base mistook the chopper returning midway from a mission as an incoming missile towards the base.

                        Comment


                        • Friend from foe identification was turned off. Good decision.
                          Politicians are elected to serve...far too many don't see it that way - Albany Rifles! || Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it - Mark Twain! || I am a far left millennial!

                          Comment


                          • An interesting thread from 2006 : )

                            http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/showthread.php?t=13522

                            As part of the evidence at the trial, the US government expert testified that jehadi camps existed and operated in various parts of Pakistan from 2000 to 2005, and specifically opined that a series of camps, including a well-known Jaish-e-Mohammed camp, were located in the Balakot area of Pakistan.
                            Originally posted by Dreadnought View Post
                            IMO I know my goverment works with Pak. But if these camps exist they must be exterminated wether it causes a rift between them or not. Terrorists are Terrorists.
                            heh

                            Originally posted by platinum786 View Post
                            one last thing...

                            so there are camps....waht you gonna do about it?

                            Write to your local paper....lol

                            Originally posted by Tronic View Post
                            hehe... i'm glad you acknowledged that there are terror camps running in Pak.. now don't be surprised if some of them vanish in the morning and Pak cries air intrusions!!! lol... by ANOTHER secret Mig-25 unit which the Pakistanis again couldn't intercept... lol...
                            So close but we used Mirages.

                            Originally posted by lemontree View Post
                            Stamp it out one day, ...maybe with you in it.
                            Originally posted by 667medic View Post
                            Amen to that....
                            Indeed!

                            Never got to interact with highsea he was gone by the time i turned up : (

                            Comment


                            • 6 months after the strike...

                              Balakot reactivated by Pakistan, 500 terrorists waiting to enter India: Army Chief | India Today | Sept 23 2019

                              Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has said the Balakot terror launchpad of Jaish-e-Mohammed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) wiped out in an airstrike on February 26, has been reactivated.

                              Speaking to the media in Chennai, General Rawat said, "Balakot has been reactivated.

                              Balakot was affected, damaged and destroyed. Action had been taken by the Indian Air Force and now they are reactivated."

                              General Bipin Rawat also said that about 500 infiltrators are waiting to infiltrate into India.

                              Asked if the Army is planning another strike to counter the resurgence, General Rawat said, "Why should we repeat the same action? Why not go beyond that? Let them keep guessing."

                              Comment


                              • Owning up

                                Was a big mistake, says IAF chief RKS Bhadauria on chopper shot down by own missile | HT | Oct 04 2019

                                The Mi-17 V5 helicopter of the Indian Air Force that crashed in Srinagar on February 27 - a day after air strikes on terror training camps in Balakot in Pakistan - was shot down by friendly fire, Chief of Air Staff, Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria said today.

                                “It was a big mistake, “ Air Chief Bhadauria said and added, “two officers will be proceeded against” for violating standard operating procedure leading to friendly fire bringing down the helicopter.

                                A Russian made Mi-17 helicopter of the IAF crashed even as Indian and Pakistani fighters were engaging each other over Nowshera, in Jammu and Kashmir on 27 February. All six airmen, on board the helicopter, were killed.

                                Hindustan Times had first reported in May this year that the chopper was downed by a surface-to-air missile of the IAF which mistook the aircraft to be hostile.

                                The Air Chief also said that IAF is also considering designating all personnel killed in air-crash as “battle casualties”.

                                The Court of Inquiry (CoI) is just complete and it shows the IAF shot down the helicopter by mistake, the Air Chief said.

                                Days after the crash, then Chief of Air Staff BS Dhanoa had told the IAF that the guilty officers would not be protected.

                                An inquiry into the accident had indicated several lapses leading to the tragedy.

                                For instance, the inquiry had faulted the air traffic control for calling back the helicopter as air engagement between Indian and Pakistani fighters intensified.

                                Ideally the helicopter should have been sent away to safer zone instead of it being called back to the base.

                                Also, the incoming helicopter should have been vectored to the pre-designated zone that is meant for friendly aircraft to hold till the alert was called off.

                                All bases have designated airspace for friendly aircraft in case of an air defence alert.

                                “Air defence platforms like missile systems, air defence guns etc are kept free, they are free to engage any aircraft which doesn’t identify itself as a “friendly” either through the IFF or by remaining confined to the airspace designated for friendly aircraft to hold during an alert,” a senior defence ministry official had told HT.

                                Importantly, the Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF) – a transponder based identification system that informs the air defence radars whether incoming aircraft is friendly – was switched-off. This was a violation of the laid-down orders and protocol.

                                The IAF headquarters had ordered all aircraft should keep their IFF systems on at all times after a 2018 near-air-miss incident in Jammu and Kashmir between a C-130 J - a US-made transport aircraft - and Russian made Su-30 fighter aircraft.

                                Surprisingly, the Srinagar Air Base had issued contradictory orders. “Had the IFF system been on, air defence radars would have at least identified Helicopter as a friendly aircraft,” the second senior defence ministry official said.
                                There were two errors, calling the heli back to base which put it at risk of being shot with its IFF off.

                                Why was the heli ordered to switch IFF off ?

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X