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Rupani's death reopens old chapter—wartime shootdown of another Gujarat CM & Pakistani pilot's apology
The crash has reopened an old chapter in India's military and political history; the 1965 wartime shootdown of Gujarat's second chief minister, Balwantrai Mehta, a Congress stalwart and widely regarded as the 'architect of Panchayati Raj', who remains the first and only Indian politician to be killed in wartime action in the subcontinent.
Former CM Rupani died Thursday when the London-bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, slamming into a hostel housing students of B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital. Of the 242 people on board, only one survived.
New Delhi: BJP leader Vijay Rupani is the second Gujarat chief minister, serving or former, to die in an air crash, reviving memories of Balwantrai Mehta, who was killed in 1965 when his civilian VIP aircraft was shot down by a Pakistani fighter jet during the India-Pakistan war.
On 19 September, 1965, at the height of the India-Pakistan War, a civilian aircraft, an eight-seater Beechcraft Model 18 belonging to the Gujarat government, was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force, killing all eight people onboard, including Gujarat's second chief minister, Balwantrai Mehta.
It was reported that accompanying him were his wife Sarojben Mehta, three senior aides, a journalist from Gujarat Samachar and two pilots—former IAF Sqn Ldr Jehangir 'Jangoo' Engineer and co-pilot D'Costa.
The incident unfolded during a particularly volatile phase of the 1965 war. Following Pakistani infiltrations into Kashmir in August and a subsequent Indian counter-offensive, full-scale fighting had broken out on land, sea and in the air. By September, both air forces were on high alert.
Mehta's visit was reportedly aimed at reassuring residents after a recent Pakistani naval strike on the coastal town of Dwarka. However, the flight's path brought it perilously close to the India-Pakistan border.
The Beechcraft Model 18, an American-made twin-engine aircraft used widely for short-range executive travel, was part of the Gujarat government's fleet. The destination was Mithapur, a small airport on the Gulf of Kutch, about 400 km from Ahmedabad.
It was initially reported that the IAF had denied clearance for the flight due to the ongoing conflict but later relented under pressure from the state government.
That morning in Ahmedabad, Mehta had addressed a National Cadet Corps (NCC) rally before returning home for lunch. Around 1.30 pm, he and his party drove to the civil airport.
The plane took off at around 1.50 pm, with an estimated arrival time of 3.30 pm in Mithapur.
Around the same time, Pakistani radar stations near Badin in Sindh picked up a slow-moving, unidentified aircraft near the Rann of Kutch. The PAF scrambled two F-86 Sabre jets from Mauripur near Karachi to intercept the aircraft.
One of the jets aborted takeoff, leaving a rookie pilot, Flying Officer Qais Hussain, to pursue the target alone. Furthemore, owing to communication issues, Hussain had to rely on relayed instructions from another pilot, Flight Lieutenant Kazmi, who remained at a higher altitude.
Upon visual contact, Hussain reported spotting a twin-engine, twin-tail aircraft with four windows on each side, similar in appearance to the Indian Air Force's C-119 'Packet' military transport aircraft.
Although the Beechcraft crew reportedly waggled their wings, an aerial gesture meant to indicate a civilian aircraft, Hussain was ordered to engage.
He circled the aircraft before firing two bursts from his .50 calibre guns. The first hit the left wing; the second, the right engine. The Beechcraft caught fire and crashed into the desert near Suthali village, roughly 100 km from Bhuj.
All eight aboard were killed. The incident sent shockwaves across Gujarat and the country. Soon, the All India Radio confirmed the tragedy later that evening, followed by India condemning the attack as 'cowardly,' stating the plane was unarmed and civilian.
Meanwhile, the PAF justified the action by citing the plane's proximity to a still-undefined wartime border and suspicions of a reconnaissance mission.
What PAF pilot wrote 46 yrs later & pilot's daughter's response
Unexpectedly, in the first week of August 2011, nearly five decades after the crash, the former Pakistani Air Force pilot Hussain reached out to Farida Singh, daughter of Sqn Ldr Jehangir Engineer (Retd), in an email titled 'Condolence'.
Sqn Ldr Jehangir (Retd), who flew the Beechcraft, was one of four brothers who served in the IAF. His brother, Air Chief Marshal Aspy Engineer, had served as Chief of Air Staff in 1960; another, Air Marshal Minoo Engineer, led the Western Air Command during the 1971 war; and a third, Group Captain Ronnie Engineer, also held senior IAF positions. Post retiring from both the IAF and Indian Airlines, Jangoo went on to become Chief Pilot for the Maharashtra government and had later joined the Gujarat government on deputation.
In his message to Farida, which was widely circulated across media outlets, the retired PAF pilot had shared his version of the incident and expressed his condolences.
'The incident happened 46 years back but it is as fresh in my mind as if it had happened yesterday,' he wrote. He recounted how the aircraft had appeared to stray off course over the Rann of Kutch, prompting concerns among radar operators. He had been scrambled alone on a two-minute alert.
'I caught sight of him at 3,000 feet and made a pass so close that I could read his markings and the number of the aircraft,' Hussain recalled. 'Your father spotted my presence immediately and he started climbing and waggling his wings seeking mercy.'
He said that he had reported these signs back to radar control. 'Instead of firing at him at first sight, I relayed to my controller that I had intercepted an eight-seater transport aircraft (guessing by the four-side windows) and wanted further instructions to deal with it. At the same time, I was hoping that I would be called back without firing a shot. There was a lapse of 3 to 4 long minutes before I was given clear orders to shoot the aircraft.
'After the shooting, I had a sense of achievement and satisfaction that I had completed my mission and destroyed any recce data that might have been collected to open a new war front. I landed back at Mauripur, Karachi, with my fuel tanks bone dry and was greeted by my seniors and other squadron colleagues. Later that evening, All India Radio announced the names of the occupants who had lost their lives in that aircraft.'
Hussain said he was a soldier following orders. 'I did not play foul and went by the rules of business,' he wrote. 'But the unfortunate loss of precious lives, no matter how it happens, hurts each human and I am no exception.'
Farida Singh replied later that same week, describing the 1965 shootdown a defining moment in her family's life, though she held no personal animosity.
'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 on us. We are all pawns in this terrible game of War and Peace.'
She remembered her father as 'an ace pilot if ever there was one… strong in body and spirit,' and added, 'this incident is indeed a prime example of what damage strife and mindless battles can drive even good men to do… I am glad that it is now public as it can do nothing but heal wounds… My father would have liked that it goes towards bringing a spark of forgiveness between our two peoples, who after all were one.'
Subsequently, as the country comes to terms with the Air India crash that left 241 dead including Vijay Rupani, the 1965 loss of Balwantrai Mehta remains a rare instance of a political figure killed in wartime air action. Though nearly six decades apart, both incidents stand out as uncommon cases of serving or former chief ministers lost in aviation disasters.
What followed Mehta's death years later, was an exchange that stood out, offering, if briefly, a glimpse of shared vulnerability between nations divided by endless conflict.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Vijay Rupani killed in Air India crash, 2nd Gujarat CM lost to an aviation tragedy
