INDIAN PLANE SHOT DOWN

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28868, 13 April 1959, Page 11

INDIAN PLANE SHOT DOWN

Pakistan Protests At Violation CA.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) KARACHI, April 11. The Pakistan Foreign Ministry said tonight that the pilot of an Indian Air Force Canberra . jet bomber shot down near Rawalpindi yesterday admitted that he deliberately flew over Pakistani territory to photograph military targets. The statement said the pilot, Squadron Leader J. C. Sen Gupta, commander of the Indian photoreconnaissance squadron, said he had in fact photographed some targets which he named. It was officially announced tonight that the Pakistani Government had lodged a protest with the Indian Go> eminent through its High Commissioner in New Delhi against “two violations of Pakistani air space” by Indian aircraft. The Indian Defence Minister, Mr V. K. Krishna Menon, said that the shooting was “unwarranted and contrary to international law and custom.”

According to a Foreign Ministry statement, Squadron Leader Gupta said he was heading towards Taxila, about 20 miles north-east of Rawalpindi, when he was intercepted by a Pakistani, fighter, which shot him down nearly 150 miles inside Pakistani territory. The Foreign Ministry described as inaccurate and misleading a statement by Mr Menon that the Indian Canberra had been photographing Indian territory as part of a routine survey. Speaking in the Indian Lower House, Mr Menon said the Indian plane’s mission was to photograph Indian territory and it must have gone into Pakistan air space by mistake. The aircraft was unarmed. The Indian Prime Minister, Mr Nehru, said that the shooting was “a serious and distressing Incident.” Mr Nehru made a brief statement after Opposition members had tabled six different adjournment motions—all disallowed — asking for discussion on the incident. “By Mistake” Mr Menon said that the Canberra had obviously gone into Pakistan air space by mistake through operational and navigational difficulties. The Canberra, which carried no weapons, was taking aerial photographs of Indian territory in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir for a survey of India. At the height it was flying, it was easy for it to make a navigational error, he said. “The Government desires to make it clear to the world that the straying of our plane from our air space was not, and could not be, part of any hostile design or policy.” Mr Menon said the Government could not believe that any warning was given by the Pakistan aircraft to the Indian Canberra to land. “If it had been given, it was most unlikely that it would have been ignored by our airmen.” he said. There had been violations of Indian air space by Pakistan military planes in the past and they had not been shot down, he added.

Asked what would be India’s policy if there were violations in future by Pakistani aircraft, Mr Menon said: ‘‘Our policy will not be changed by an act of provocation

“We shall warn those planes repeatedly and force them to land on our territory wherever they can land. We shall not shoot at their planes. “Whether our planes should be armed in the future is a matter for serious consideration by the Government.”