What started out as a goodwill gesture, when Pakistan refuelled an Indian army chopper and sent it back after it had strayed across the Line of Control (LoC) on Sunday, has now turned into a blame game with officials in New Delhi alleging that Pakistani authorities “stole” data from the helicopter.
The Hindustan Times quoted unnamed Indian government officials as saying that the incident was being probed at a high level as the GPS data of the helicopter was found wiped out, along with nicknames and code signs of all the helipads in the 14 Corps area.
The Nemu, Leh-based 14 Corps is responsible for the defence of Kargil-Leh, Siachen Glacier and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with Tibet.
“We are treating the incident with utmost concern as the coordinates of all helipads in the 14 Corps including Siachen Glacier and LAC are now with the Pakistan army, along with code signs and nicknames,” said a senior Indian official.
Denying the reports, Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Athar Abbas said, “The news is incorrect.”
Refusing to comment any further on the matter, the DG’s reaction came on Tuesday amid reports by the Indian media claiming that the Pakistan army had downloaded the GPS coordinates of all helipads from the Indian army chopper that had wandered into Pakistani territory.
Senior officials said the Indian crew was being questioned as the Cheetah was equipped with GPS and hence, there was no reason for the machine to have strayed into Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
To add insult to injury, the Pakistan artillery helipad (with number 90), on which the Cheetah landed in the Marol area just across the LoC in Kargil sector, was not known to the Indian army. The Pakistan army allowed the chopper to return to Kargil after refuelling the machine and providing directions to the pilots.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2011.
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@John B: right on;that is the truth; as also of straight_talk
Report by Hindustan times should be ignored. Their Govt has denied such reports as well. Consider it their usual diatribe. Indian media has difficulty in digesting the fact that we meant no harm. How is that possible? We must have some "malicious intent" for freeing the chopper. After all we are their favourite punching bag.
This story is a non-starter. This news came in Hindustan Times earlier. Apart from an initial attention i do not think this story did much. Pakistan is an enemy country. We do not expect them to offer us garlands and sweets if we enter their occupied territory. We should thank them for the way they handled the whole crisis. It speaks volumes about their seriousness to the ongoing peace talks. For once Pakistani response has been very decent, mature and constructive. The government of India has also thanked Pakistani government for their responsible and measured behaviour. I would personally like to thank Pakistan and its people for such a normalizing response.
What do you expect when your pilots drift into forgein territory. Ofcourse the PAK can take info from the chopper , its a natural outcome & they have every right to do that. What kind of international law did PAK break?
It is likely that the Indian crew wiped the data before they landed. Also, in this day and age it is unlikely that each countries do not know each others position and coordinates especially across the LOC.
Media in both countries should leave these decisions to the border commanders who are actually responsible for maintaining peace and respect their decisions.
It is ignorant of Indian media to think that PAK would not snoop around the data and it is also ignorant of PAK media to think that Indians will land their helicopter with all the data intact.
ET should write an in-depth story from its own source rather than regurgitating the same story with new title based on allegation in Hindustan Times whose very source can be an ignorant mechanic.