Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service
Garend Kalan (Budgam), May 11
This quiet village tucked under dense foliage in the central Budgam district of Kashmir hit the headlines on February 27 when India and Pakistan were in a near-war conflict.
Sakeena was inside her home that day when the first of a series of blasts shattered the silence. She fell unconscious. Her cousin, Meema, ran out and saw a helicopter wobbling in the air, its tail on fire. Another cousin, Kifayat Hussain, was in a paddy field.
As the helicopter crashed into the paddy field, six Indian Air Force personnel on board died and Hussain became the only civilian casualty. What was left behind was a mystery — the cause of the crash.
The helicopter crashed around the time Pakistan jets were engaged in dogfights with Indian jets over the Line of Control during a tense standoff in the aftermath of the Balakot airstrikes.
Even two months after the IAF Mi-17 helicopter crash, a key piece of evidence — the black box, which records flight data and conversations — is yet to be found.
Several villagers say police and IAF officials came looking for the black box after the crash. A senior police official confirmed efforts were made to find the black box, but it remained untraceable.
Hussain’s uncle Ghulam Ahmad Ganai and other villagers claim they handed over everything they found to the police. Sarpanch Ali Mohammad recalls hearing loud blasts and then seeing a blazing helicopter fall.
“Several days after the crash, a boy found a pistol and we called the police and handed it over to them,” he says.
More than 500 families live in this predominantly Shia village. The only time gunshots were fired here was three decades ago when two militant groups had a fratricidal fight, claim villagers.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/30coRoB
via Today’s News Headlines
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