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Air force pilot Yunus is proud to be Indian

thestringshredder

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DEHRADUN: When the IAF flew it first sortie to save pilgrims trapped by the raging waters of the Alaknanda in Kedarnath, at the cockpit was Wing Commander S M Yunus.

Commanding officer of the 152 Helicopter Unit based at Sarsawa Air Force Station, Yunus first got the message about the disaster on June 16. The rains, which had been pouring since June 14, had begun rampaging by the next day.

On June 17, Yunus landed at Dehradun's Jolly Grant helipad. The next morning, around 9am, he was off to Kedarnath in his Mi-17 V5 chopper, IAF's newest and most powerful acquisition with a carrying capacity of 3 tonnes.

The first batch of 20 people was evacuated to Guptkashi. From there, they made their way to Dehradun. Yunus reckons he might have flown about 500 people in innumerable sorties to safety. He is still at it. "We continued the operation on June 18 and 19," he said from his current location in Joshimath. "I was then told to rescue people from the more isolated Harsil sector, ahead of Uttarkashi, and in a restricted helipad at about 6000 ft."

Bad weather and poor visibility made things difficult. Add to that the terrain and Yunus' job was cut out. "When we landed at Kedarnath, roughly 9,600ft, the helipad had been washed away. We had to rescue people from the ridge. Twice we set out on our mission and had to return to base as landing was impossible." Yunus changed course and went to Badrinath on June 20, from where 25 pilgrims were brought to the safer Joshimath. The sorties continued. On June 23, he airlifted more than 200 from Badrinath and brought them to Joshimath.

"In fact, even today (June 24), when the whole day the weather has been bad, we tried to reach Badrinath, but had to return empty handed," said the 38-year-old officer from Bhagalpur in Bihar. Yunus joined IAF in 1995 as a pilot officer, a rank that has now been abolished. These days they start as flying officer.

So what was it like for a Muslim to be one of the first to come to the aid of Hindu pilgrims? Yunus laughs out loud before giving a quick answer. "In the Air Force we are taught only one religion - to be Indian. That is what IAF pilots are trained to be. Had it not been for such tragic circumstances, I would have been grateful and happy to see the holy shrine."

Link - Air force pilot Yunus is proud to be Indian - The Times of India
 
To be a Muslim & still living is already a huge thing in India...

Just think what it would be like to be one of the first Muslim PILOTS after 65 years of independence of india...:coffee:
 
To be a Muslim & still living is already a huge thing in India...

Just think what it would be like to be one of the first Muslim PILOTS after 65 years of independence of india...:coffee:

Tell that to our muslim intelligence chief or father of our rocket program.
Hindus and shias in pakistan are more or less exterminated.
 
Why am I not surprised. Quality's been going down steadily in our media houses.

Couple of dingbats. The officer in question earned his place, his religion didn't even need to be mentioned, specially not in this vein. Wonder what this journalist would say if he knew that the valley was under the command of Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain, that's right dingbat journos..he's a Muslim and we trust him with running COIN ops in J&K..ooh such a miracle.:rolleyes:
 
This is the kind of subtle discrimination Muslims have to deal with on a regular basis in India.
 
Ḥashshāshīn;4451743 said:
This is the kind of subtle discrimination Muslims have to deal with on a regular basis in India.

Bravissimo! Must have been my imagination when Major General Afsir Karim was serving as commander for our para battalions in 71. Or Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain serving as the General Officer Commanding of the XV Corps in Kashmir. Or when Shri Abdul Kalam was designing our missiles. Must have missed out on all of that. Our forces don't discriminate. This is just some snot nosed journo getting high on the cheap.
 
To be a Muslim & still living is already a huge thing in India...

Just think what it would be like to be one of the first Muslim PILOTS after 65 years of independence of india...:coffee:

Wow... this kind of journalism seems to be tailor made for your kind :coffee:

Anyways, we have people from all religions in our AF... we had a Muslim Air Chief as well. And the current one is a Christian. How many minority members made it so far in your countries military?

It seems to be a very big thing to belong to a minority over there :rolleyes:
 

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