23 foreign trainee pilots were at air base when terror struck

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 6

Besides protection of strategic assets and families of soldiers residing at the Pathankot Air Force station, the safety of 23 trainee fighter pilots from other countries was a major concern for the Indian security establishment when terrorists attacked the air base on the intervening night of January 1 and 2.

Trainee fighter pilots belonging to Afghanistan, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Myanmar were present at the Pathankot air base on that day.

This was revealed by Lt Gen KJ Singh, Army Commander, Western Command, today. The safety of those pilots was a top priority for the security establishments involved in neutralising the terrorists, he said.

Listing the “successes” achieved during the operation, he said, “There has been no collateral damage... Around 3,000 families (11,000 people) live in that air force station. No harm was caused to them. More importantly, there were 23 foreign trainee pilots from four friendly nations. All of them are safe.” There would have been a crisis situation had the terrorists taken hostage even one of them, he said.

He also defended the decision to deploy the National Security Guard (NSG) to deal with the situation. “The decision to call in the NSG was taken by the appropriate authority, including the Services chiefs. There could have been a hostage crisis. Besides 3,000 families of Air Force personnel, some foreign trainees were also present there. What if even a single foreign trainee was taken hostage? The NSG is specially trained to deal with such situations,” he said.

“Had the air base suffered any damage in the terror attack, it would have been very difficult to fly in the NSG there. That was the main reason that the force was inducted at a very early stage of the operation,” he said.

He said the operation was a “complete success”. On disposing of terrorists’ bodies, he said of six, two bodies are completely charred. The other four could be booby traps. A hand grenade hanging with the body of a terrorist is visible. “We have yet to decide whether to destroy these or not,” said Lt Gen KJ Singh, army commander, western command.