New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has unofficially admitted that it had shot down its own helicopter killing seven Indians when Indian fighter planes were engaging Pakistani intruders on the day Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s jet was downed in Pakistan’s territory.
 
Six IAF personnel and a civilian were killed at Budgam in Kashmir when a missile blew up their Mi-17 helicopter on February 27, a day after India had launched the Balakot air strikes in retaliation to the Pulwama massacre. The chopper tragedy took place when Pakistani fighters launched an attack and India responded.
 
The strike was in retaliation for an attack in Kashmir by a militant from Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, that killed around 40 Indian security personnel in Pulwama.
 
Although former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and some media reports had suggested a friendly fire might have brought the helicopter down, the government and the IAF have not explicitly said so, preferring to wait for an internal probe to be over.
 
The capture and release of the wing commander had overshadowed the chopper tragedy. The IAF later had ordered a court of inquiry into the chopper incident.
 
“Details of the preliminary probe began to leak soon after the general election, prompting accusations that feet were dragged deliberately to ensure that Narendra Modi’s plank of Balakot-driven muscular nationalism is not undermined,” The Telegraph reported.
 
For more than two months, the Budgam incident was shrouded in mystery. It was only on Tuesday – with the general elections finally over – that news reports have appeared making it clear that the Indian Air Force personnel were killed in “friendly fire” when Indian forces shot a missile at their own helicopter.
 
NDTV reported that the Indian Air Force chopper was mistaken for an enemy aircraft. The Economic Times reported that the officer responsible for firing the missile could be charged with culpable homicide. Both made a reference to an investigation conducted by the Indian Air Force.
 
However, these articles on Tuesday had been prompted by a report in the Business Standard on April 27, which predicted that though it was clear that the Budgam incident was a case of friendly fire, details of the inquiry would only be released after the Lok Sabha elections. The reason: “With the Balakot bombing and the Pakistani response, including the alleged shooting down of a Pakistani F-16 fighter, being painted in election campaigning as a major Indian victory, admitting the loss of a helicopter and seven personnel due to friendly fire would present a bleaker picture.”
 
“The Bharatiya Janata Party’s use of the Balakot strike during its campaign is troubling, given that it violates the Model Code of Conduct under which politicians cannot refer to the armed forces while electioneering. However, it would be far more worrying if the armed forces themselves kept the Budgam incident under wraps till the elections had concluded so as not to embarrass the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party,” Scroll reported.
 
Though the court of inquiry (CoI) has yet to submit its final report, the findings reveal several lapses which led to the catastrophe.
 
An earlier report by defence analyst Ajai Shukla said that the CoI had “conclusively determined” that the Mi-17 V5 helicopter was brought down by friendly fire. Shukla said the IAF has been asked to “hold” the findings until after elections.
 
On Tuesday, two days after the final phase of voting, two national newspapers reported that the IAF is considering charging officers with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
 
According to the Hindustan Times, the senior-most officer of the Srinagar air force base has been removed for related reasons. The Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Srinagar Air Base was removed as the incident occurred on his watch.
 
Newspapers reported that the proceedings could take months, even a year, to complete because the investigating team needs to meticulously collect data and evidence, in view of the serious charges that could be initiated against culpable officers.
 
While IAF sources told Shukla that they were keen to “serve justice quickly and make an example of those found guilty of operational lapses”, they were held back by a “go-slow” order from above, The Wire reported. The IAF strikes in Balakot and India’s claim that it shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet were heavily politicised during the election season. Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly evoked the strike as his government’s strong response to the Pulwama terror attack. In this scenario, “admitting the loss of a helicopter and seven personnel due to friendly fire would present a bleaker picture”, Shukla wrote.
 

 
Related Articles:
Going against EC advisory, PM Modi asks people to dedicate their votes to Balakot soldiers
As Pakistan Promises To Release IAFOfficer, Accident-Prone MiG-21s Are Flying Past Their Retirement Age
 

The post Now that polls are over, IAF admits it shot down its own helicopter in Budgam appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Opposition parties started saying that they were proud of Air Force and stood firmly with Modi government on the issue of national security. Some well meaning people have started saying that there should be national consensus on national security, this has been our tradition and there should be no politics on it. However, the fact is , that it is either the issue of national security or war against other nation, it can’t be without politics. The famous saying goes that “war is continuation of politics by other means.” The opposition parties alleged that BJP and Modi are doing politics on the martyrdom of soldiers.

It is natural on the eve of  Lok Sabha election what BJP will do except the politics. It is the opposition, particularly Congress should tell the nation what is its conception of national security, on issue of Pakistan and Kashmir. How it is different with the politics of Hindutva on these issues? How is It possible that RSS- BJP will practise authoritarian Hindutva politics internally and they would support a democratic policy in external affairs. Foreign policy of a country is only extension of its domestic policies. Had there been a national consensus on national security after independence, Gandhiji would not have been killed. After all he was killed, being declared an agent of Pakistan. For RSS, India is only a map, where people and their will does not matter. They wish to own and control the territory of Kashmir even at the cost of sacrifice of any number of soldiers or the people of Kashmir. Even, they don’t bother about the views of Mahbooba Mufti who was their partner in government for about 3 years. They are not prepared to listen the voice of Shah Faizal on Kashmir, who was IAS topper in 2009. They are adamant on removing 35 A and Section 370 of the Constitution. They never bothered to talk to all stakeholders in Kashmir in the last 4 years nor do they find it necessary even today.

It is their habit to destroy the democratic institutions in the country. It is their nature to suppress pluralism and dissent. RSS, ideologically and politically, never accepted Pakistan as a nation. It is not only war cry of some war mongers, journalists of media houses,  of weapon merchants and others to eliminate Pakistan from the world map; in fact, it is concrete ideological understanding of RSS that Pakistan should be balkanized and annexed to India, thus giving birth to Akhand Bharat .

Modi told about the completion of Pilot Project but he didn’t enlighten the nation about the role played in it by US and Saudi Arabia. But it is in public domain that the US President had already promised about good news of de-escalation between India and Pakistan, much before Pakistan PM’s declaration about releasing the Indian pilot. The warmongers and the Sangh are happy that Pakistan is now globally isolated, even the countries of OIC (Organisation of Islamic Co-operation) are not with them. Rather they invited India as a guest of honour and our Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj expressed her views there. But, instead of celebrations, here too, one needs to learn something. In 1991, India, too, did not have money for repayment of foreign bills. And we had to go into the lap of World Bank and IMF. As a result, foreigners gradually captured Indian market.

Suicides of farmers deprived of resources and market as well as joblessness of youth are well known facts. Today, the prosperity in India is based on the loot of tribals, toiling masses, youth and workers of unorganized sector. There is no need to boast on its sustainability.

India, too, is undergoing deeper economic crisis. The politics of war may benefit the arm’s merchants, but it will ruin the common man. India’s strength lies in its market given to Corporates and multi nationals. The day we reclaim our markets and assert independently in world politics, coming out of the US influence, the hollowness of our so-called emerging friendship with US, Europe and Saudi Arabia like countries will be exposed.

Certainly, Modi government is free not to talk to the Pakistan government, if it so wishes. But, it must enlighten the countrymen as to how, without taking Kashmiri people into confidence, it proposes to deal with Pak diplomacy and the terror outfits. Treading the path shown by Israel, Modi government does know that despite all barbaric aggressions of Israel, Palestine, still exists. Summing up, one can say that there is need of consensus in the country, not for war politics of Hindutva but for people’s politics against it.

Akhilendra Pratap Singh, Member, National Executive,Swaraj Abhiyan

Courtesy: Counter Currents

The post Against the Politics of War of Hindutva Forces appeared first on SabrangIndia.