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Downed IAF pilot, Flt. Lt. Nachiketa, released by Pakistan
4 June 1999
ISLAMABAD: The pilot of one of the two Indian MiGs which was shot down by Pakistan on 27 May 1999, Flt. Lt. Nachiketa, has been released after 8 days as a prisoner of war in Pakistan. He was handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad refused to receive him in the presence of the International Red Cross and the media.
In a gesture of peace and goodwill which will not go unnoticed even in an atmosphere full of war-rhetoric, Pakistan handed over the captured Indian pilot to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after the Indian High Commissioner refused to accept him.
But Paul Bonard, chief of the ICRC delegation in Pakistan, drove Flight Lieutenant K Nachiketa straight to the Indian High Commission from the Foreign Office and handed him over to High Commissioner S. Parthasarthy. The ceremony, delayed by more than three hours, was held at the Foreign Office where Bonard received the prisoner from the Pakistani authorities.
Nachiketa, who turned 26 on Tuesday, was captured on May 27 when Pakistani troops brought down two intruding Indian MiG fighters 12 km inside Pakistan. The other pilot, Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, was killed when his aircraft crashed after being hit by the groundfire. His body has already been handed over to the Indian authorities. The Prime Minister's announcement to release Nachiketa came at the press conference, his first since hostilities between India and Pakistan flared up early last month.
Minutes after Sharif's announcement, Pakistan Foreign Office contacted the Indian High Commission to arrange for the takeover of Nachiketa. The Foreign Office made three attempts to persuade the Indians to attend the ceremony but did not succeed. When Director General India desk, Zamir Akram, first spoke to Indian Deputy High Commissioner, Saradh Sabarwal, he asked for sometime to consult New Delhi. Apparently, New Delhi advised the High Commission to boycott the ceremony.
Sharif decided to release the Indian pilot after a series of meetings with his senior ministers and generals on Wednesday, who advised him to hand Nachiketa over to the Indians as a gesture of goodwill. Later Tariq Altaf, a spokesman for the Foreign Office, told journalists that the prime minister had decided to release Nachiketa "as a gesture of goodwill and in keeping with the Islamic traditions."
"We informed the Indian High Commission this evening and invited them to receive their pilot. They have refused to accept their own pilot in the presence of the ICRC representative and the media. We were trying to persuade the High Commission to come and that's why the ceremony was delayed," said Altaf.
"Our purpose in handing over the officer in the presence of the ICRC representative and the media is for the world to see that the pilot is safe and sound and has been accorded the treatment due to an officer. This handing over ceremony is in accordance with the international norms. We wanted to avoid a repetition of baseless allegations that followed when we returned the body of Squadron Leader Ahuja last week. The High Commission's refusal to accept the officer is regrettable."
He then instructed the journalists not to question the pilot, saying that ICRC rules did not allow this. "We received the pilot today in conformity with the legal procedure. We interviewed him in the absence of the Pakistani officials. He was also allowed to send a message to his family. An ICRC doctor examined Nachiketa and found him in good health. We have issued two confidential certificates, one to the Pakistani and the other to the Indian authorities about his heath," said Paul Bonard of the ICRC.
The ICRC doctor found four cuts and bruises on the pilot's face and legs and said that all were several days old. These were the result of the violent ejection sequence when Nachiketa's MiG-27 was shot down by Pakistan. "No Pakistani official was present when the ICRC team was inspecting the pilot or interviewing him," said Atlaf. He said since Pakistan was not fighting a war with India, Nachiketa was not a prisoner of war.
Nachiketa was later handed over to the Indian High Commission by the ICRC where he was issued with a new passport. Flt. Lt. Nachiketa will be taken to Lahore from where he will cross over into India from the Wagah Border Checkpost.