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Thaw in air: Pak pilot at IAF meet
SUJAN DUTTA
New Delhi, Oct. 14: Indias air force invited, hosted and felicitated a Pakistan Air Force official at an international conference that marked the end of the IAFs platinum jubilee celebrations here last week.
This was the first time that the Indian armed forces invited Pakistan to send a representative to an international meet hosted by it as a participant not as an observer. India and Pakistan have fought four wars, their troops and officers are schooled on a diet of rhetoric against each other.
At the official level, Indian and Pakistani directors general of military operations talk on a telephone hotline twice a week and army officials hold flag meetings on the Line of Control in Kashmir. Indian and Pakistani forces are engaged together in UN missions in Africa and have gone into operations jointly in Congo. Retired Indian and Pakistani military officers who were batchmates in academies meet for reunions and in gatherings abroad.
A live contact between serving Indian and Pakistani military officials has been a strict no-no except through institutionalised channels.
But when the tall and strapping fighter pilot Group Captain Shahid Akhtar Alvi was felicitated by defence minister A.K. Antony at the conclusion of the International Conference on Flight Safety, he became the first Pakistan Air Force official to be welcomed in such a manner in the heart of Indias defence establishment.
It was a small step for the Indian Air Force that shares a common ancestry with Pakistans in its 75th year but a huge step for military diplomacy. Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, who took the initiative to invite the PAF, applauded as Alvi walked up to the dais and accepted a gift from Antony.
Alvi was among 26 officers from as many air forces who were felicitated by the defence minister. Alvi did not eat during high tea with the minister because he is fasting for Ramazan.
Yes of course it was my decision to invite Pakistan, Major told The Telegraph. And it is for the first time. Why not? Flight safety is everyones concern.
This was the second International Conference on Flight Safety hosted by the IAF. Its motto is Aviation Safety A Universal Language.
Clearly, the invitation to Pakistan was sent as an afterthought, or after considering the implications, because it was received by the PAF after many of the other delegates had registered.
Alvi is the air adviser in the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi and was asked by the PAF to represent it. He was not only among the audience but also a speaker during a panel discussion on The risk of fatigue in aviation a key concern of air forces.
We got the invitation very late and there wasnt enough time for our headquarters to send someone from there, he said.
He indicated that the PAF may shortly invite the IAF to send a representative to a similar meet in Pakistan.
I think there will be something reciprocal. We also host an international flight safety conference. This year we had it in February, he said.
I am not sure the dates and the venue for the next one has been fixed. But I think something will come up, he said.
In the panel discussion on pilot fatigue, Alvi told the audience that the PAF strives to relieve stress among its combat pilots by looking after their families.
Last year when the IAF first held the conference it was in January when the Bollywood blockbuster Rang de Basanti was vetted by the armed forces for focusing on corruption that leads to the killing of a pilot in a crash of an IAF MiG 21 aircraft. Alvi and the PAF were not invited to the conference. But he was asked to attend a briefing by IAF headquarters for air attaches on the conference.
The Pakistani officer was among representatives from air forces from all continents. The Indian deputy chief of integrated defence staff, Air Vice Marshal A.V. Vaidya, gave a presentation on Accident Investigation and Safety Management; the Israeli officer on Israeli Accident brief; and a Bangladeshi officer participated in a panel discussion on bird hits and how to prevent them after a French Air Force presentation on the use of falconry (use of trained birds) in reducing risks.
SUJAN DUTTA
New Delhi, Oct. 14: Indias air force invited, hosted and felicitated a Pakistan Air Force official at an international conference that marked the end of the IAFs platinum jubilee celebrations here last week.
This was the first time that the Indian armed forces invited Pakistan to send a representative to an international meet hosted by it as a participant not as an observer. India and Pakistan have fought four wars, their troops and officers are schooled on a diet of rhetoric against each other.
At the official level, Indian and Pakistani directors general of military operations talk on a telephone hotline twice a week and army officials hold flag meetings on the Line of Control in Kashmir. Indian and Pakistani forces are engaged together in UN missions in Africa and have gone into operations jointly in Congo. Retired Indian and Pakistani military officers who were batchmates in academies meet for reunions and in gatherings abroad.
A live contact between serving Indian and Pakistani military officials has been a strict no-no except through institutionalised channels.
But when the tall and strapping fighter pilot Group Captain Shahid Akhtar Alvi was felicitated by defence minister A.K. Antony at the conclusion of the International Conference on Flight Safety, he became the first Pakistan Air Force official to be welcomed in such a manner in the heart of Indias defence establishment.
It was a small step for the Indian Air Force that shares a common ancestry with Pakistans in its 75th year but a huge step for military diplomacy. Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, who took the initiative to invite the PAF, applauded as Alvi walked up to the dais and accepted a gift from Antony.
Alvi was among 26 officers from as many air forces who were felicitated by the defence minister. Alvi did not eat during high tea with the minister because he is fasting for Ramazan.
Yes of course it was my decision to invite Pakistan, Major told The Telegraph. And it is for the first time. Why not? Flight safety is everyones concern.
This was the second International Conference on Flight Safety hosted by the IAF. Its motto is Aviation Safety A Universal Language.
Clearly, the invitation to Pakistan was sent as an afterthought, or after considering the implications, because it was received by the PAF after many of the other delegates had registered.
Alvi is the air adviser in the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi and was asked by the PAF to represent it. He was not only among the audience but also a speaker during a panel discussion on The risk of fatigue in aviation a key concern of air forces.
We got the invitation very late and there wasnt enough time for our headquarters to send someone from there, he said.
He indicated that the PAF may shortly invite the IAF to send a representative to a similar meet in Pakistan.
I think there will be something reciprocal. We also host an international flight safety conference. This year we had it in February, he said.
I am not sure the dates and the venue for the next one has been fixed. But I think something will come up, he said.
In the panel discussion on pilot fatigue, Alvi told the audience that the PAF strives to relieve stress among its combat pilots by looking after their families.
Last year when the IAF first held the conference it was in January when the Bollywood blockbuster Rang de Basanti was vetted by the armed forces for focusing on corruption that leads to the killing of a pilot in a crash of an IAF MiG 21 aircraft. Alvi and the PAF were not invited to the conference. But he was asked to attend a briefing by IAF headquarters for air attaches on the conference.
The Pakistani officer was among representatives from air forces from all continents. The Indian deputy chief of integrated defence staff, Air Vice Marshal A.V. Vaidya, gave a presentation on Accident Investigation and Safety Management; the Israeli officer on Israeli Accident brief; and a Bangladeshi officer participated in a panel discussion on bird hits and how to prevent them after a French Air Force presentation on the use of falconry (use of trained birds) in reducing risks.
