People have right to know casualties in IAF air strikes: Shiv Sena
Mumbai:The Shiv Sena Tuesday said India's citizens have the right to know about the casualties in the air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp in Pakistan and that revealing such information would not lower the morale of armed forces.
Taking a dig at senior ally BJP, the Sena, in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana' said discussions over the air strikes will linger on till the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and "burning issues" raised by the Opposition before the February 14 Pulwama attack have now been side-stepped.
"Citizens of the country have the right to know what and how much harm has been caused to the enemy by the defence forces. We do not think the morale of our forces is being lowered by asking for it," it said.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) jets on February 26 pounded JeM's biggest training camp in Pakistan in retaliation to the terror outfit's attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
While the government has so far not given any official figure of the casualties in the air strikes, some opposition parties have been asking for a proof of it.
Referring to it, the Sena said, "Where did the 300-kg RDX used in Pulwama attack come from? How many terrorists were killed in our strikes on terror camps? Discussions over these will happen till the last days of polls because before the Pulwama attack, inflation, unemployment and Rafale jet deal were the burning issues for the Opposition."
The Modi government's "bomb" has fallen over these issues, it said in sarcastic remarks.
Issues like the construction of Ram temple, Article 370 and those raised by farmers have "turned to ashes", said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party, which is an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
It said questions over the number of terrorists killed in the February 26 air strikes by IAF were not only being asked by the Opposition but by media of countries like the UK and the US as well.
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Air India's A350 aircraft enroute to London faces tech issue; returns to Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): Air India's A350 aircraft enroute to London Heathrow returned to the national capital due to a technical issue on Thursday afternoon after being airborne for nearly seven hours.
The same A350-900 aircraft VT-JRF had faced a technical issue on March 15, following which the plane operating the flight from New York to Delhi was diverted to the Irish town of Shannon, sources said.
An Air India spokesperson said its flight AI111, operating from Delhi to London on Thursday, made a precautionary air-return to the national capital following a suspected technical issue.
"The aircraft landed safely and consistent with Air India's high safety standards, it is currently subject to extensive technical evaluations, which will require additional time to complete," the spokesperson said in a statement.
According to the sources, noises were heard in the aircraft following which it was diverted.
The spokesperson also regretted the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to the unforeseen situation and said the airline was making every effort to ensure passengers are able to continue their journey to London at the earliest.
Details about the number of passengers onboard could not be ascertained.
The aircraft operating the flight AI111 was airborne for around four hours before the decision was taken to divert the plane when it was in the Saudi Arabia airspace. In total, the plane was airborne for nearly seven hours before landing back in the national capital, as per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.
The flight had taken off from Delhi around 6 am on Thursday and landed back at about 12.30 pm.
Air India started operating A350-900 planes from January 2024.
