Pak AF men in dock over destroyed plane
1 Nov 2013 4:38 AM IST
Three Pakistan Air Force PAF personnel have been chargesheeted for negligence of duty during a terror attack on a key airbase that destroyed a surveillance aircraft.
The three personnel - senior aircraftman Shawaiz Khan, senior technician Zafar Abbas and Corporal Technician Mirza Waseem Iqbal, the supplier assistant of the No 3 Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron at the Aeronautical Complex in Kamra airbase - were arrested for failing to provide security to aircraft destroyed in the attack.
The accused were technical staff and providing security to planes was not their responsibility, The Nation daily quoted its sources as saying on Wednesday. The personnel will face court-martial from 11 November, the daily reported.
About nine militants, armed with automatic weapons, grenades and suicide vests, had attacked Minhas airbase at Kamra in Punjab on 16 August last year.
A Saab 2000 Erieye surveillance aircraft was destroyed and a security personnel was killed before the attackers were gunned down. The chargesheet against the three personnel was issued by a PAF Field General Court Martial in Kamra. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan had then said, ‘We are proud of this operation. Our leadership had decided to attack Kamra base a long time ago.’
The Taliban claimed aircraft from the base were being used to kill its fighters. Ihsan dedicated the attack to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, killed by US commandos in Abbottabad.
The three personnel - senior aircraftman Shawaiz Khan, senior technician Zafar Abbas and Corporal Technician Mirza Waseem Iqbal, the supplier assistant of the No 3 Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron at the Aeronautical Complex in Kamra airbase - were arrested for failing to provide security to aircraft destroyed in the attack.
The accused were technical staff and providing security to planes was not their responsibility, The Nation daily quoted its sources as saying on Wednesday. The personnel will face court-martial from 11 November, the daily reported.
About nine militants, armed with automatic weapons, grenades and suicide vests, had attacked Minhas airbase at Kamra in Punjab on 16 August last year.
A Saab 2000 Erieye surveillance aircraft was destroyed and a security personnel was killed before the attackers were gunned down. The chargesheet against the three personnel was issued by a PAF Field General Court Martial in Kamra. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan had then said, ‘We are proud of this operation. Our leadership had decided to attack Kamra base a long time ago.’
The Taliban claimed aircraft from the base were being used to kill its fighters. Ihsan dedicated the attack to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, killed by US commandos in Abbottabad.
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