Indian Army men grilled but treated well in Pakistan

The four Indian Army personnel, whose helicopter mistakenly landed in Pakistan-held territory on Sunday, were grilled for nearly four hours but were treated well.

Army sources on Monday said that Pakistan army personnel questioned the two pilots and two crew members about how they came there and other related issues in an effort to ascertain their motives.

Once satisfied that the incident was inadvertent, the Pakistan army released pilots Major Raja and Major Kapila along with Lieutenant Colonel Verma and Akhilesh Sharma of Engineering Corps.

The pilots of the chopper, flying from Leh to Bhimbhat in Jammu and Kashmir on a routine sortie, went across the Line of Control at around 1.20 pm as they tried to land due to bad weather.

But soon after the landing, the pilots and two other personnel of the Indian Army realised that the helipad was not in the Indian territory but in Pakistan-controlled Northern Areas.

The military helipad was located in Olding sector near Skardu, about 20 km from the Line of Control in Kargil sector, Army sources said on Monday.

Once on the ground, they were surrounded by the Pakistani Army and escorted to the nearby building, they said. They were questioned but treated well, the sources said.

Sources said seconds after the Cheetah flew across the LoC, an Indian post in Kargil informed higher formations about the movement of a chopper. They thought it was a Pakistani helicopter which had violated Indian airspace.

But later as the picture got clear, all the higher formations including the Leh-based 14 Corps, Northern Command and Army Headquarters were informed about the actual situation.

After their return, the four Army personnel are being debriefed about the whole incident.