Another war, another cup of tea for a future chief of PooF. Time for the keyboard warriors in pakhanistan to shut up!
How I captured and saved India’s first prisoner of war in 1971
by LT GEN H S PANAG (RETD)
I was the Adjutant (officer responsible for operational staff work) of 4th Battalion of the Sikh regiment (4 Sikh).
At 3 pm on 22 November, I was returning to the unit headquarters from our logistics base when I saw three Pakistani Sabres coming in for probably the last sortie before sunset. The Sabres were carrying out high dive attack on our positions.
Suddenly, another mission of four fighter aircraft appeared from the east and flew over me at tree-top level. It was clear that our Gnats had joined the battle.
The Gnats fired long bursts of 20 mm cannons and flames erupted from the three Sabres as they plunged towards the ground. It was all over in three minutes and the Gnats headed back to Kalaikunda airfield.
Two parachutes opened up from the plunging Sabres.
One of the parachutes with the pilot drifted towards our defences.
When I was a stone’s throw away, three to four of our jawans had already knocked the pilot down and had started hitting him with rifle butts.
I calmed down the jawans and assured the pilot that he was safe.
As per procedure, I took him to the battalion headquarters. Our doctor dressed the wound on his forehead. I ordered a cup of tea for him and began his formal interrogation.
His name was Flight Lieutenant Parvaiz Qureshi Mehdi.
Parvaiz Qureshi Mehdi was the first PoW of the 1971 war and was imprisoned for one-and-a-half years. He would go on to become an Air Chief Marshal and the Chief of Pakistan Air Force (1997-2000).
Tea for Mehdi. I wonder what those medals were for?
https://theprint.in/opinion/how-i-captu ... 71/158246/