New Delhi, August 11(ANI): The daughter of a dead Indian pilot has thanked a Pakistani fighter pilot for apologising after shooting down the civilian aircraft that her father was commanding over four decades ago.
Farida Singh's father, Jahangir Engineer, was flying the plane, which had apparently drifted off course along the border, and was subsequently shot down by Qais Hussain, who was a Pakistani pilot during the 1965 war with India, the BBC reports.
Forty-six years on, Hussain wrote to Singh, saying that he was sorry for the loss of precious lives during the incident and was acting under orders from his superiors.
The former fighter pilot said that when he landed back at an air base at Karachi, he felt highly elated for having completed the mission, but the mood changed later that evening when All India Radio (AIR) announced that the plane had been a civilian Indian aircraft with eight people on board.
"The fact that this all happened in the confusion of a tragic war was never lost to us," wrote Hussain.
Singh replied that she was "somewhat overwhelmed" at receiving the letter, adding that her father's death had "defined our lives".
"But in all the struggles that followed, we never, not for one moment, bore bitterness or hatred for the person who actually pulled the trigger and caused my father's death," she wrote. "The fact that this all happened in the confusion of a tragic war was never lost to us. We are all pawns in this terrible game of war and peace."
Describing her father as an "ace pilot, a great leader of men [and] a willing team player", Singh said he was also generous of spirit.
"Hence it is now easy for me to reach out my hand to receive your message. This incident is indeed a prime example of what damage strife and mindless battles can drive even good men to do," she said. (ANI)
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