New Delhi, Sep 30: The Pakistani helicopter that violated Indian airspace on Sunday in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector was carrying the so-called prime minister of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) Raja Farooq Haider Khan, reported news agency Reuters. Reports in Pakistani media also said that Khan was on the chopper.
Khan was preparing to land in the Tarori area when the Indian Army began shooting, according to Pakistani media channel Aaj News. The chopper that was carrying Khan was spotted in Indian airspace around 12:10 pm on Sunday. The helicopter withdrew into Pakistani territory after Indian troops fired at it with small arms. Islamabad has so far not reacted to the incident.
In video footage, accessed by news agency ANI, a white chopper can be seen breaching the Indian airspace and violating international conventions to illegally enter the Indian boundaries near the Line of Control (LoC). The incident of a Pakistani chopper violating Indian airspace further fray ties between the two countries.
#WATCH A Pakistani helicopter violated Indian airspace in Poonch sector of #JammuAndKashmir pic.twitter.com/O4QHxCf7CR
— ANI (@ANI) September 30, 2018
Following the incident, Khan said that his helicopter was unarmed, but called for calm. "We do not want any war hysteria in this region," he reportedly said. The incident a day after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York, raised the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
“The demon of terrorism now stalks the world, at a faster pace somewhere, a slower pace elsewhere, but life-threatening everywhere. In our case, terrorism is bred not in some faraway land, but across our border to the west. Our neighbour’s expertise is not restricted to spawning grounds for terrorism; it is also an expert in trying to mask malevolence with verbal duplicity,” said Swaraj.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 30, 2018 11:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).