‘The heart of a pilot is in the cockpit ‘ says former Kargil IAF flight lieutenant and POW Nachiketa

New Delhi July 22:The Kargil war in 1999 was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan in the Kargil district of Kashmir over the Line of Control.Many a life has been lost to the war.Kambampati Nachiketa was a Flight Lieutenant of No.9 Sqaudron ,in the IAF during the Kargil Operations and was captured as Prisoner of War (POW) in Pakistani custody.

He had been involved in aircraft sorties in the Batalik sector in May 1999.

Armed with 80mm rockets,during one of the strike runs in his MiG 27 fighter bomber,the  engine “flamed out”and went dead in mid-air.

All attempts to restart the his Tumanskii turbo jet engine by relighting it was futile As the plane came closer to terrain he ejected out.

As soon as he ejected ,he lost consciousness and blacked out.He awoke to the sound of enemy firing bullets at him.

Dazed by the ejection trauma, he unloaded all the bullets in his firing pistol which had a range of 25 yards on enemy Pakistani soldiers.

He was returned fire by the Pakistani troopers with AK-47 rifles.The soldiers of the Pakistani Northern Light Infantry who captured him beat him up very badly until a senior restrained the soldiers.

Flt Lt Nachiketa remained in custody of Pakistani forces for eight days and was first taken to an undisclosed place in the Batalik Sector.

He was mercilessly tortured and interrogated by the Pakistan army while international mediation’s were going on for his release.

According to Nachiketa ,the experience was “difficult to be described in words” and felt that “death would have been a better solution”.

He was repatriated to India on 3 June 1999.

He was handed over to International Committee of the Red Cross in Pakistan and subsequently was repatriated over the Indian border checkpost at Wagah, on the Lahore Amritsar Road.

He was received by the President KR Narayanan and Prime Minister Vajpayee ,who greeted him as a hero.

He was not deemed fit to return to fighter duty because of an injury to his back the happened  when he ejected over Kargil and during para-landing.

Nachiketa was able to enter the Indian Air Force’s transport fleet and continues to fly giant Il-76 transports. He is a Group Captain of the No 78 Squadron at Agra.

17 years after Kargil war and capture, Nachiketa goes on, “The heart of a pilot is always in the cockpit.”