Pakistan frees four Indian armymen as helicopter crisis ends

NEW DELHI: A chopper row erupted between India and Pakistan after an Indian Army helicopter strayed into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on Sunday afternoon. The issue was settled after DGMOs of both the countries spoke to each other.   Following these talks, Pakistani authorities released the chopper and four Army officers were allowed to fly back home.   The helicopter strayed into Pakistani territory in Olding sector in northern Skardu region, near the border with Indian Kashmir on Sunday afternoon.   "The helicopter had come deep into our airspace. It was forced to land. Four Indian Army officers have been taken into safe custody. They are safe," military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas has earlier told a news agency.   "Our air defence aircraft immediately scrambled into the air and reached the area and forced the helicopter to land," another Pakistan Air Force official told news agencies. A lieutenant-colonel, two majors and a junior commission officer of the Indian Army were on board the helicopter.   The reports said the helicopter entered Pakistani territory during "whiteout" conditions due to snow in the mountainous region. "It was due to bad weather that the Cheetah chopper strayed across the LoC. There was no deliberate attempt to intrude," the Indian Army said in a statement.   Military pilots straying across LoC is nothing new for the air forces of India and Pakistan. The contiguity of the terrain and an unmarked LoC, unlike International Border, is a major factor. Possibility of straying increases in bad weather.   During the 2005 earthquake that flattened a vast belt on either side of the LoC, Pakistani choppers and relief aircraft flew into J&K countless times. In fact, a US army Black Hawk was forced to land in Keran as it failed to locate the LoC. After preliminary investigations it was permitted to fly back in November 2005.   Once an UN helicopter also strayed into the Indian territory without prior intimation.   Between August 2005 and July 2007, the IAF had recorded 73 incidents of violations of Indian airspace by Pakistani aircrafts. Briefing the Lok Sabha on the issue in December 2010, Defence Minister AK Antony said between 2007 and 2010, Indian airspace was violated 29 times by pilots of neighbouring countries that included 23 violations by PAF alone. It included two violations by the US, three by China and one by Bangladesh.   Bulk of these violations was reported during the relief and rehabilitation efforts after the October 2005 earthquake.   In certain belts, especially in the devastated Neelam Valley, the relief helicopters belonging to the US, the UN and Pakistan could not land at the destination without straying into the Indian territory for a minute or so.   Prior to the earthquake, the then Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's helicopter once entered the Indian airspace in July. Though it was confirmed by his information minister Sheikh Rashid, Islamabad formally issued a denial.   Once an Indian minister's chopper strayed into Pakistani zone and returned only after being warned of being shot down.