Atlantique incident

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The Atlantique Incident was an event in which a Breguet Atlantique patrol plane of the Pakistan Navy's Naval Air Arm, with 16 people on board, was shot down by the Indian Air Force for violating Indian airspace. The episode took place in the Rann of Kutch on 10 August 1999, just a month after the Kargil War, aggravating already tense relations between India and Pakistan.

Foreign diplomats based in Pakistan and escorted to the site by the Pakistani Army noted that the plane may have crossed the border. However, the Islamabad-based diplomats said they also believed that India's reaction was unjustified.[1] Pakistan later lodged a compensation claim at the International Court of Justice, blaming India for the incident, but the court dismissed the case, ruling that the Court had no jurisdiction in the matter.[2][3][4]

Confrontation

The French-built Breguet Atlantique (Breguet Br.1150 Atlantique) plane, flight Atlantic-91, c/n 33, of 29 Squadron,[5] was one of the Pakistan Navy's frontline aircraft, used primarily for patrol and reconnaissance. Atlantic-91 left Mehran (Sindh province) Naval Base in Pakistan at 9:15 am (PST). Indian Air Force ground radar picked up the plane as it approached the India-Pakistan border.[6] Two IAF MiG-21 interceptor aircraft of No.45 Squadron, from the Indian airbase at Naliya in the Kutch region, were scrambled.[7] After a series of manoeuvres—with conflicting versions of events from both sides—the two jets were given clearance to shoot down the Pakistani plane.[6] At 11:17 am IST (10:47 am PST), nearly two hours after takeoff from Pakistan, the Atlantique was intercepted and an infrared homing R-60 air-to-air missile was fired at it by Squadron Leader P.K. Bundela, hitting the engine on the port side of the plane.[8] This resulted in the aircraft going out of control and spiraling groundward, crashing at approximately 1100 hours PST, at the approximate location Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. All 16 personnel on board the Atlantic-91, including five officers of the Pakistan Navy, were killed.

The incident was the Pakistan Navy's only loss of an aircraft to hostile fire in its history, and the biggest combat-related casualty for the Navy since the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Claims and counterclaims

The region in Kutch, (marked in red) where the incident took place

The event immediately sparked claims and counter-claims by both nations. Pakistan claimed that the plane was unarmed and the debris was found on Pakistan's side of the border,[9] and there was no violation of Indian airspace. According to the official Pakistan version of events, the plane was on a routine training mission inside Pakistan air space.[10] The Pakistani Prime Minister stated during the funeral service of the airmen that the shooting was a barbaric act.[11]

Enlarged map of the region showing Sir Creek and Kori Creek area where the plane was shot down and wreckage was found

The Indian Air force claimed that the airplane did not respond to international protocol and that it acted in a "hostile" manner,[12][13] adding that the debris of a downed aircraft could fall over a wide radius.[14] Indian sources also state that Pakistan's Information Minister, Mushahid Hussein, was initially quoted as saying that the aircraft was on a surveillance mission.[14] India also alleged that the plane violated a bilateral agreement, signed by India and Pakistan in 1991, under which no military aircraft were to come within 10 km of the border[15] (although Pakistan claimed the Atlantique was not a combat aircraft).[1] Indian experts also questioned why a training mission was being carried out so close to the border, when all air forces conduct training flights in clearly demarcated training areas located well away from international boundaries.[16] According to them, the Pakistani claim was untenable since the primary role of the Atlantique is for operations over the sea and that to carry out a training flight over land deep inside foreign territory was an indication of its use in a surveillance role.[16] India displayed part of the wreckage of the Pakistani naval aircraft at New Delhi airport the next day. Pakistan however, stated that the wreckage was removed from its side of the border by Indian helicopters.[9]

While Pakistan said that the plane was unarmed and the debris was within Pakistani territory, India maintained that warnings had been given to the Atlantique and that its flight trajectory meant it could have fallen on either side of the border. According to the Indian version of events, the MiGs tried to escort it to a nearby Indian base, when the Pakistani aircraft turned abruptly and tried to make a dash for the border; it was only then that it was fired upon. India claimed that the debris was found in a radius of 2 km on either side of the border and that the intrusion took place 10 km inside the Kori Creek, which is Indian territory. Pakistan requested that the matter be taken up in the UN. Indian officials blamed that there had been previous violations in the area and pointed out that in the previous year a Pakistani unmanned surveillance aircraft had intruded 150 km inside the Indian border, coming close to the Bhuj air base before the IAF spotted it and brought it down with several missiles.[14]

Indian analysts state "flare-ups" in the Rann of Kutch region were routine, and despite bilateral agreements, both India and Pakistan had conducted air intrusions in the past. Thus, the fact that the Atlantique was shot down, despite coming close to the Indian border, came as a surprise.[14] Indian officials add that Pakistan military aircraft had violated Indian airspace at least 50 times since January 1999, showing videotapes of Pakistani Atlantiques "buzzing", or flying provocatively near the Indian Navy's warships in the Indian Ocean.[17] Some Indian analysts stated that the Atlantique was nearly destroyed in 1983 on a similar encounter and noted other close encounters and violations from Pakistani naval planes.[18][19][20]

Some experts stated that the Atlantique was probably conducting a "probe" on India's air defence system, mainly the radar equipment in the border area; however, they advised that it was not part of any planned aggressive military action by Pakistan.[17] Foreign diplomats who visited the crash site noted that the plane "may have strayed into restricted space", and that Islamabad was unable to explain why it was flying so close to the border; they however added that India's reaction to the incident was not justified.[1] Many countries, the G8, the permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as the western media questioned the wisdom behind Pakistan's decision to fly military aircraft so close to the Indian border.[21]

Rise in tensions

On the day following the attack, an IAF helicopter carrying journalists to the site of the attack was attacked by the Pakistan Army with a surface-to-air missile. Pakistani officials asserted that two Indian jets had intruded into Pakistani airspace near the Atlantique wreckage site, along the border between the Indian state of Gujarat and Pakistan's Sindh Province, and were then fired upon by Pakistan. International and Indian television journalists travelling in the chopper said the aircraft shook severely and a flash appeared in the air, suggesting a missile had been fired at it.[22] The IAF thus aborted their mission to display Atlantique wreckage on Indian soil.[17]

Following this, and the rising tensions in the area coupled by the fact that the Sir Creek was a disputed territory, both the countries' militaries near the Rann of Kutch and nearby were put on high alert.[11] Pakistan sent a company of soldiers, equipped with both laser guided and infrared homing shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, to the site near the border.[23] Coming barely weeks after the Kargil Conflict where both nuclear armed countries fought high altitude warfare, this incident was seen with growing concern around the world. The U.S. State Department termed the subcontinent as being in a state of "continued high-stakes tension."[11]

Lawsuit

The International Court of Justice dismissed Pakistan's case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction.

On 21 September 1999, Pakistan lodged a compensation claim at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, accusing India of shooting down an unarmed aircraft. Pakistan sought about US$60 million in reparations from India and compensation for the victims' families. India's attorney general, Soli Sorabjee, argued that the court did not have jurisdiction,[24] citing an exemption it filed in 1974 to exclude disputes between India and other Commonwealth States, and disputes covered by multi-lateral treaties.[25] In the buildup to the case, India also contended that Pakistan had violated the 1991 bilateral agreement between Pakistan and India on air violations, which states: "Combat aircraft (including, Bombers, Reconnaissance aircraft, Jet military trainers and Armed helicopters) will not fly within 10 km of each other's airspace including Air Defense Identification Zone."[15]

On 21 June 2000, the 16-judge Bench headed by Gilbert Guillaume of France ruled—with a 14–2 verdict—upholding India's submission that the court had no jurisdiction in this matter.[2][26] Pakistan's claims were dropped, without recourse to appeal, and the outcome was seen as a decision highly favourable to India.[3][4][27] The Pakistan government had spent close to 25 million Pakistani rupees (approx. $400,000) on the case.[28]

Aftermath

In India, the incident made the two pilots of the MiG-21s into instant heroes.[14][29] On 8 October 2000, the prestigious Vayusena medal was awarded to Squadron Leader P.K. Bundela. The medal was also awarded to Wing Commander V.S. Sharma (the fighter controller who tracked the Atlantique, guided the pilot and ordered him to attack the plane) and Squadron Leader Pankaj Vishnoi, the helicopter pilot who recovered a part of the Atlantique's debris from the marshy border regions of the Rann.[30]

The downing of the Pakistani aircraft came at a particularly bad juncture for the Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. Two months later, he was deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Pervez Musharraf.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Pakistani plane "may have crossed border" 13 August 1999 BBC Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 ICJ's Press Communique on the verdict Retrieved on 23 July 2007.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 India wins case against Pakistan 21 June 2000 – The Tribune Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Pakistan dismayed over verdict: ICJ refuses to hear Atlantique case 21 June 2000 – Dawn wire service Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  5. ↑ Criminal Occurrence description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 23 July 2007.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Air defence operations By Narendra Gupta. Taken from The Hindu 17 August 1999 Reproduced by Embassy of India in Washington Retrieved on 26 July 2007
  8. ↑ IAF Scores a Kill !!! Factual Account of Interception – Indian Air Force official page Retrieved on 26 July 2007
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 A Moiz (1999) Core Negativity Defence Journal, September 1999 Retrieved on 26 July 2007
  10. ↑ 21 September 1999 Application instituting proceeding (PDF) Aerial Incident of 10 August 1999 (Pakistan v. India), International Court of Justice Case page Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Alternate URL: http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/asia/magazine/1999/990823/india_pakistan1.html
  12. ↑ IAF shoots down Pak intruder plane; Wednesday, 11 August 1999; EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE; The Indian Express Retrieved on 1 January 2010
  13. ↑ ATLANTIQUE DOWNING: Creek Crisis – The strange encounter in the Rann of Kutch leading to the shooting down of the Pakistani Altantique sets both countries on the path of confrontation again.; By Vijay Jung Thapa; 1999/08/23; India Today Magazine
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Creek Crisis by Vijay Jung Thapa and Aahid Hussain and Uday Mahurkar 23 August 1999 India Today Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Agreement Between India and Pakistan on the Advance Notice of Military Exercises – Hosted on Henry L. Stimson Center Retrieved on 23 July 2007 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Agreement" defined multiple times with different content
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Atlantique mission had be cleared at the highest levels By Air Commodore Jasjit Singh Published in The Indian Express 12 August 1999. Hosted on Embassy of India in Washington webpage
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Pakistan Attacks Indian Aircraft in Border Region By Pamela Constable and Kamran Khan 12 August 1999, Washington Post Retrieved on 23 July 2007 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Globalpolicy" defined multiple times with different content
  18. ↑ Pakistani recce aircraft shot down (Asia-Pacific Report)by S. Mallegol Journal of Electronic Defense 1 September 1999 Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  19. ↑ Cold War in the Arabian Sea Vijay Sakhuja, Research Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  20. ↑ Confidence Building Measures in South Asia – The Maritime Angle (DOC Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Tensions renew as Pakistan launches missile at Indian military by Neelesh Misra Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 12 August 1999 Retrieved on 26 July 2007
  23. ↑ Atlantique wreckage image gallery with pictures of Pakistani soldiers using infrared and laser guided RBS 70 and Mistral missiles Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  24. ↑ ICJ begins hearing on Pak complaint 4 April 2000 – The Tribune Retrieved on 10 September 2007
  25. ↑ ICJ verdict on jurisdiction in Atlantique case today 21 June 2000 – The Hindu Retrieved on 10 September 2007
  26. ↑ Judgment of 21 June 2000 Jurisdiction of the Court (PDF) Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  27. ↑ World court blow for Pakistan BBC 21 June 2000 Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  28. ↑ Govt comments sought in Atlantique case 17 July 2002 – Pakistan's Dawn.
  29. ↑ Report on Bundela's critical condition who was "a national hero" – 11 June 2002 NDTV Retrieved on 23 July 2007
  30. ↑ Vayusena Medal (VM) Bharat Rakshak Retrieved on 22 July 2007

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