Is this a way to settle scores?
The most heinous and gruesome attack has been unleashed on the country. About 40 soldiers have died owing to the conspiracy of an extremist organization in Pulwama, Kashmir. Many have been injured. This attack is as bad as the war. This attack has been made on the soul of this country. It’s an irony that this grisly incident has happened during the last few days of Modi being in office, after he had assured that he’d bring ten heads of Pak soldiers for every Indian soldier killed before he took oath of the PM’s office.
This is such a mockery of surgical strike that the government claimed to have carried out after extremists struck Uri, after which the country called for a revenge resonating through the country. A film was also made based on surgical strike and while the film is making crores, a barbaric attack was unleashed on Indian Army and 40 soldiers paid with their lives. Only 16 people had lost their lives in Uri attack in 2016, but this attack has left more than double number of victims as soldiers. This tragedy is probably a message to Modi that people cannot be kept under a spell always trying to hide reality.
The fight between extremists and terrorists is ages old in Kashmir. Extremists have attacked soldiers many times over in the past. Similarly, even the army has retaliated to extremists. The army also knows as they begin smoking out the extremists from their holes, they step up their attack. Hence Army and intelligence forces should take adequate caution about this. If the extremists had blown up some city or some school, we could have called this attack as cowardice and the conniving nature of their work. But this attack is not on innocent children or general public, instead on the core of India. They have attacked the very core of India’s security.
So, the question of “who’s responsible for this attack?” does not end here by merely condemning Pakistan. That country is breeding and sheltering terrorists. They are being trained and sent to launch attack on India. This is evident to the whole world. The investigation needs to inform the people of this country about how the extremists could get massive amounts of RDX beyond the security cover? This investigation should also nail those who failed at providing this input and such incidents are not repeated in the future.
Most of all, ignorance has led to this attack accepted Governor Satyapal Malik who has said despite getting a particular intelligence input. The soldiers are killing extremists one after another. Why did no one spare a thought about a retaliatory attack being tougher than ever before. The fact that this extremist had massive amounts of explosive. This reveals how the extremist had prepared to launch the assault. Who gave him the information about particular Army vehicle movement? Just as this attack has Pakistani influence, can our own people too have their own favs from within the government? (Aurangzeb’s act of silencing terrorists had our people, this fact was known only recently) All these have to be investigated.
Before PM Modi came to power, the army had maintained its distance from the politics. After he assumed power, every accomplishment by the Army became a joyous occasion for the party. Government participated in the surgical strike that happens often in secrecy. Modi finally kept the interest of the entire army to Ambani. Even officers within the army had to defend Modi by way of conducting press conferences.
With this being the background, all other political conspiracies also need to be investigated. Not just that, Modi’s approach to Kashmir after he assumed office also added to the problem. RSS and BJP together took decisions regarding Kashmir. Opposition to beef consumption, killing of cattle traders, ghettoization of Pandits in Kashmir, terrible crimes by army on civilians, pellet guns being used against women and children, tying people to jeep as shield, all these issues of total distrust among people. Extremists used them to their own advantage. Demonetisation worsened the Kashmir problem instead of solving it. Unemployed youth took to wrong routes. Army treating every voice of dissent as “terrorists” pushed younger men into extremism.
This is the sole reason for maximum number of assaults against army happening during Modi’s time. About 170 attacks had taken place during the UPA time in 2013, and this number went up by four times with 614 attacks during Modi’s time. While the youth who took to extremism in 2013 stood at 16, it went up by 12 times at 191 in 2018. More than anything else, the worrying factor during Modi’s time is that the civilians are taking soft stance about extremists. The government has said it would ‘seek revenge’ for this attack. What would that mean? Is the govt seeking revenge from civilians? If that happens, India may lose Pakistan forever. On one hand the extremists need to be contained and on the other, exercises to create good faith among Kashmiris have to be on. To make Kashmiris stay with India is the only revenge India can seek from Pakistan. The government needs to strategise for this and unless we make Kashmiris our people, we’ll never be able to claim their land. The government needs to understand this clearly.
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Maharashtra Dy CM Ajit Pawar, four others killed in plane crash
Baramati (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Maharashtra’s Pune district on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old leader’s death has not only left a vacuum in the BJP-led state coalition government, but also cast a shadow on the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed.
His uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar said the plane crash was an accident which shouldn't be politicised.
The "black box" (comprising the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder) from the aircraft, will be analysed after recovery to determine the cause of the accident, an official said.
Ajit Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar's death.
The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance it did not give any read-back' to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
In aviation parlance, a go-around is a standard procedure where a pilot discontinues a landing attempt and initiates a climb to fly another approach. It is used when a landing cannot be completed safely due to factors like poor weather, an unstable approach, or traffic on the runway. It is a proactive safety measure rather than an emergency.
A readback is a crucial safety procedure where a pilot repeats back the essential parts of a message or instruction received from Air Traffic Control (ATC). It acts as a "closed-loop" communication system, ensuring that the controller's instructions were heard and understood correctly by the flight crew.
The 16-year-old chartered aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, crashed while attempting a second landing approach at Baramati airport which is an uncontrolled airfield where traffic information is typically provided by instructors and pilots from local flying training organisations.
V K Singh, owner of VSR Ventures, said the pilot apparently could not see the runway and carried out a "missed approach", a standardised procedure in such cases.
Terrifying eyewitness accounts have emerged from the site of the aircraft crash as residents near the Baramati airport described a scene of chaos as the plane appeared to lose control before erupting into a series of big explosions.
An eyewitness described watching the aircraft circle the airport, noting it appeared 'a bit unstable' before its final approach. According to her, the plane 'hit the ground hard and exploded' upon impact, with the blast being heard in homes throughout the area.
Later, the Civil Aviation Ministry, quoting the person manning the Air Traffic Control at Baramati, issued a statement about the sequence of events indicating that the flight encountered visibility issues during its landing attempt despite reports of calm weather.
The statement said that at 8.18 am, the aircraft first established contact with Baramati air traffic control after being released by the Pune approach at 30 nautical miles (around 55 km) inbound to Baramati.
The crew was advised to descend at their discretion under Visual Meteorological conditions and were also informed that winds were calm and visibility was approximately 3,000 metres.
Upon reaching the final approach for the runway, the crew reported that the runway was not in sight and initiated a go-around to reposition for a second attempt on the runway.
After initially stating the runway was still not visible, the crew reported "runway in sight" just seconds later and the ATC cleared the aircraft to land at 8.43 am.
However, the crew did not provide the mandatory readback of this final clearance and at 8.44 am, exactly one minute after the last communication, ATC personnel observed flames erupting near the threshold of the runway.
Emergency services reached the scene immediately following the explosion and the wreckage was located on the left side of the runway.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is currently analysing why the crew struggled to maintain visual contact with the runway despite the reported 3,000-metre visibility.
According to eyewitnesses, the force of the explosion was so great that parts of the aircraft were hurled through the air, landing near residential structures. "The plane tilted before coming down. We saw the explosion and it was frightening," an eyewitness said.
Another eyewitness reported that the aircraft appeared to be losing control from an altitude of approximately 100 feet above the runway.
"The way the plane was coming down, we felt it was going to crash... As we rushed towards it, we saw flames, followed by four to five consecutive blasts, which prevented us from going anywhere near the aircraft".
Pramod Madurikar, a witness at the scene, said the victims were identified shortly after the crash and were shifted to ambulances. Fire brigade personnel reached the spot shortly.
The aircraft was trying to land amid poor visibility, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu told reporters in Pune.
VSR Ventures’ fleet includes seven Learjet 45 aircraft (including the one involved in the crash), five Embraer 135BJ aircraft, four King Air B200 aircraft and one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, the statement said.
Superintendent of Police, Sandip Singh Gill, said that after the crash, there was a fire. "People onboard were immediately taken to the hospital," he said.
Ajit Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay.
His Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had contested the recent municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP).
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders expressed grief over Pawar's demise.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who reached Baramati and met Ajit Pawar’s family members, described the NCP leader’s tragic death as unbelievable, and said he had lost a good friend.
Maharashtra government declared a three-day state mourning till January 30, during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings.
Ajit Pawar’s last rites will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati.
Modi and Shah are expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at Vidya Pratishthan ground at 11 am, the Nationalist Congress Party said.
