PAF pilot says he did not apologise, only shared the grief

Former Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Flying Officer Qais Hussain, who fought for Pakistan in the 1965 war, has made it clear that while writing a condolence letter to the daughter of an Indian pilot whose plane he had downed 46 years ago, he neither apologised nor expressed remorse for his act which was carried in the line of duty.
In an exclusive interview with The News, Qais Hussain said he did not intend to apologise to the daughter of the Indian pilot and his only intention was to share the grief of her family members. “The Indian media has interpreted my goodwill gesture as an apology and repentance despite the fact that there is no such thing in my letter. I have clearly stated in my letter that I did not play foul and that I carried out my orders in the line of duty. I have further stated, ‘I feel sorry for you, your family and the other seven families who lost their dearest ones in September 1965’. It does not mean that I am apologising. It only means that I am trying to share their grief as a human being, which is their due.”
“The reason for writing the letter/email was only to tell them the true and actual circumstances under which their dear ones lost their lives because the Indian media and the Government of India Inquiry Committee at that time had not been able to present the true picture either due to lack of credible witnesses considering where it happened or due to malice which is an essential part of the psyche during a war situation.”
The incident took place on September 19, 1965 in the Rann of Kutch during the Indo-Pak war when Qais Hussain, a rookie, who had completed his conversion on F-86s from US only four months earlier, shot down an Indian Beech craft which was carrying eight people including Chief Minister of Gujarat State Balwantrai Mehta. Also on board were the chief minister’s wife, Mrs Sarojben Mehta, three members of the CM’s personal staff and a reporter from the daily Gujarat Samachar. The crew of two included

an ex-Indian Air Force pilot, Jehangir M Engineer, one of Indian Air Force’s four famous Engineer brothers. He was the chief pilot of Maharashtra State Government but was on loan to Gujarat whose chief minister was on an inspection of the Gujarat border. The aircraft had taken off from the Gujarat capital of Ahmedabad and was on its way to the small town of Mithapur that lay 200 nm WSW, at the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch. But the plane had apparently drifted off-course considerably, for the crash site is almost 40 nm north of the intended destination.
Asked about the response from the Indian pilot’s family, Qais Hussain said: “Farida Singh, the daughter of Jehangir Engineer has replied to my email in a very positive manner. If I moved one step, she did a magnanimous leap. It was reciprocal.”
Qais said: “The purpose of writing to her was purely and simply to inform the bereaved families of the true facts about the incident because what the Indian media and the government had told its public is totally inaccurate, having been based on hearsay and peasant accounts. I did not have any intention of making it public. As for courage, I am a strong believer in correcting anything that is wrongly said, done or written. It was painful for me to think that the bereaved families are living under the pretext that PAF and Pakistan ordered the shooting as blue murder in a barbaric manner. It was never the intention nor the aim, at any level, to kill and hurt innocent unarmed people. This Indian aircraft had drifted off course and come close to Pakistan border in Rann of Kutch area and stayed around for some time, which raised suspicion that it was some sort of a recce mission to open a new front. Also in 1965, in the month of April, tension between the two countries had built up in Rann of Kutch area and it stayed so for about three months. With this background, the sensitivity of presence of an Indian aircraft, civil or military, was high. I was, therefore, scrambled to check the object, which I did and conveyed complete details of what I saw. After a due consideration, which took three to four minutes, I was conveyed the orders to shoot the aircraft.”
Asked what took him 46 years to extend out condolences to Farida Singh, Qais Hussain said: “To be candid and frank, I never paid much attention to what had happened during the course of 65 war and have lived a normal life ever since. I thought of writing to the families in March/April 2011 when I read the inaccurate media reports. I repeat that the intention was purely to let the families know exactly the way it happened and it was due and appropriate on my part to also offer condolences as a courtesy and being a human while closing the email.”
Asked about his view if there ever will be peace between the two countries, which will prevent recurrence of any such incident, Qais said: “Aman ki Asha is a good initiative and closer people to people contact can certainly play a great role in bringing the two countries closer too. War is never a solution to anything. The days of Ghaznavis and Baburs are long gone and it is high time that both countries strive for a peaceful co-existence and work on this principle.”