On September 19, 1965, when the second India Pakistan war (commonly known as the 1965 war) was on, a civilan aircraft – a ‘Beechcraft-18’, an eight seater passenger plane belonging to the Govt. of Gujarat, took off from Ahmedabad with a VIP passenger – the Chief Minister of Gujarat – Balwantrai Mehta. His co-passengers included his wife Mrs. Sarojben Mehta, three members of his personal staff, and one reporter from “The Gujarat Samachar”
The crew consisted of the pilot Jehangir ‘Jangoo’ Engineer. Jangoo finished an illustrious career with the Indian Air Force and then with Indian Airlines, before being employed by the Govt. of Maharashtra as Chief Pilot. At the time of the incident he was on loan to the Gujarat Government. His co-pilot was D’Costa. (Jangoo’s family holds the unique distinction of sending four of its sons to the IAF. All of them became pilots. One rose to the rank of Chief of Air Staff, and another was the Air Officer Commanding, Western Command, during the 1971 war with Pakistan),
The destination of the flight was Mithapur, a small coastal town about 200 nautical miles South West of Ahmedabad. The purpose of the Chief Minister’s visit is unclear. Is is possible that he may have decided to visit his constituency to boost the morale of the population there, after a Naval recentattack by Pakistan on the town of Dwarka.
The flight was fraught with risks, as the area was very close to the India Pakistan border. The flight plan required clearance from the Indian Air Force, which was initially denied. But with pressure from the Gujarat Government, the Air Force provided the clearance through reluctantly. The Estimated Time of Arrival at Mithapur was 3.30 pm (IST).
At 3.30 pm (Pakistan Time) Flt. Lt. Bukhari and Flying Officer Qais Hussain, of the No. 18 squadron Pakistan Air Force ( who were part of a small F-86 Sabre Jet detachment based at Mauripur near Karachi), were alerted to some suspicious activity on the radar, and instructed to ‘scramble’ get airborne and investigate. Both pilots proceeded to take off, but Bukhari, the senior of the two pilots had to abort his mission due to engine start up problems. Qais Hussain, a rookie, proceeded towards the assigned coordinates. A standby pilot – Flt. Lt. Kazmi also took off to replace Bukhari, but by the time he was airborne, Qais Hussain had sped off at top speed, and it was not possible to catch up with him.
Once near the border, Qais Hussain switched his communication to the ground radar at ‘Badin’ very close to the border, specifically deployed to track incoming aircraft from the Indian side. The Ground Controlled Interception unit at Badin, instructed Hussain to descend from 20,000 ft to 3000 ft to locate the suspicious Indian aircraft. During this descent, Hussain lost contact with Badin, and resorted to relay his messages to his base and receive messages through Kazmi who was maintaining his altitude at 20000 ft. When Hussain was close enough to visually sight the aircraft, he conveyed a description that it seemed to be an aircraft with civilian markings, two engines, twin tailed and probably a seating capacity of 8 (since there were four windows on either side). He then requested for further instructions. Heart of hearts he wished he would be instructed to turn away and return to base.
While Hussain waited for instructions, he continued to orbit around the Beechcraft. At this time Hussain received a message which he hoped he wouldn’t – he was cleared to shoot down the plane. Obliged to follow orders, Hussain lined up his aircraft behind the civil plane, and fired. He came back for a second pass and fired again.
The ordinance released from Husaain’s Sabre Jet, found its target which was at point blank range, and unarmed The Beechcraft now engulfed by fire, went into a vertical dive, and crashed into a ball of flames about half a mile near the coastal village of Suthali, less than a hundred kms from the town of Bhuj
During the 1965 and 1971 wars it was common for both India and Pakistan to use civil aircraft for military purposes – like transportation of armament and military equipment, and more importantly for reconnaissance. Many civilian aircraft had the potential to serve in the war effort in their Countries. Consequently it was assume on either side, that all civil aircraft especially those spotted close to the line of hostility or the border, were liable to be serving some military objective.
Further, to the Pakistanis, a twin engined, twin tailed aircraft with windows on the side looked very similar to the C 119 ‘Boxcar’ Packet, a transport aircraft that was part of the Indian Air Force fleet. Therefore upon receiving Hussain’s message with the description of the ‘hostile’ aircraft it was concluded that a military aircraft the C119 was flying under suspicious circumstances very close to the border and for very long.
When Flying Officer Qais Hussain returned to base, the atmosphere was abundantly euphoric, with this victory of sorts. That mood changed soon, when that same evening The All India Radio announced the shooting down of the Indian Civilian aircraft with eight civilian souls on board.
Whether the Pakistanis were trigger happy, and performed a cruel act under the guise of war or was it a case of mistaken identity of the aircraft will never be known. But the officials responsible – the Sector Commander and the Officer Commanding of the Operations Wing, concluded rather hastily that the aircraft WAS in fact on a military mission. Even in Pakistan there was little room for debate on this act as a war was on, and the actions of the Pakistan Air Force seemed indisputable.
Many years later……
In August 2011, nearly 46 years after this incident, Flying Officer Qais Hussain, sent a letter to Mrs. Farida Singh, daughter of the pilot Jehangir Engineer who perished in the Beechcraft shooting down in 1965.
In this letter (marked ‘Condolence’), Hussain explained to Mrs. Farida Singh that “The aircraft flown by your father had drifted off course by many a mile and in his search for the destination, he had been going up and down in the border area of Rann of Katchh for quite some time and it made our radar controllers uncomfortable.”
Hussain further explained that “Instead of firing at him at first sight, I relayed to my controller that I had intercepted an eight-seat transport aircraft (guessing by the four side windows) and wanted further instructions to deal with it. At the same time, I was hoping that I would be called back without firing a shot. There was a lapse of 3 to 4 long minutes before I was given clear orders to shoot the aircraft.“
Hussain colcuded the letter – “Mrs Singh, I have chosen to go into this detail to tell you that it all happened in the line of duty and it was not governed by the concept that ‘everything is fair in love and war’, the way it has been portrayed by the Indian media due to lack of information. I did not play foul and went by the rules of business but the unfortunate loss of precious lives, no matter how it happens, hurts each human and I am no exception. I feel sorry for you, your family and the other seven families who lost their dearest ones.“
Qais’s letter, his way of reaching out to the families of the people killed in the shooting down of a plane of and ‘enemy’ Country, at his hands, was graceful, dignified and something that required moral courage. All qualities of an officer and a gentleman.
Equally graceful and humane was the reply Qais Hussain received from Mrs. Farida Singh, excerpts from which are reproduced below.
“It took courage for you to write this. And for me, too, (I say this humbly) it takes the same to write back . But my father was Courage and Grace at their finest ….”
“Yes, this was the one incident which defined our lives henceforth. But in all the struggles that followed, we never, not for one moment, bore bitterness or hatred for the person who actually pulled the trigger and caused my father’s death.The fact that this all happened in the confusion of a tragic war was never lost to us. We are all pawns in this terrible game of War and Peace.“
“A little more about my father. An ace pilot if ever there as one. A WWII veteran fighter pilot, a great leader of men, a willing team player, strong in body and spirit. This would have been just the view of an adoring daughter, had it not been reflected by all those fortunate enough to know him. Most of all was the generosity of spirit, and his intuitive understanding of the pain of others. Hence it is now easy for me to reach out my hand to receive your message. This incident is indeed a prime example of what damage strife and mindless battles can drive even good men to do.“
“In closing, I would like to say that I have no idea as to how your email has made the front page in some prominent dailies here.
However, I am glad that it is now public as it can do nothing but heal wounds, not just on a personal scale but in a much wider arena. And most of all, my father would have liked that it goes towards bringing a spark of forgiveness between our two peoples, who after all were one.“
Flying Officer Qais Hussain’s letter with an explanation, remorse and perhaps an apology, and Mrs. Farida Singh’s equally graceful gesture somehow became public news. The exchange of letters were widely publicized in newspapers and on television, in 2011.
Photgraph and other inputs from:
Comments
Post a Comment