New Delhi: In a tweet, former US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott wrote, “Direction, fuel load and range now lead some to suspect hijackers planned a 9/11-type attack on an Indian city.”
Ruling out such a possibility, a senior IAF officer said in the US attacks, the planes were going from one city to another and deviated shortly before their designated landing places to carry out attacks.
“In this case, the aircraft will have to enter India undetected for long hours before carrying out such an attack and this would be impossible due to the extensive radar coverage in the northeast and the western sectors of the country,” he said.
In case, any such aircraft is detected, the IAF has a Standard Operating Procedure. “If the aircraft is not identifying itself, it is intercepted and directed to follow our instructions. If it does not comply, it can be destroyed also because you don’t know its intentions and it may even carry out bombing or other kind of attacks,” the IAF officer said.
Former IAF Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik also ruled out the possibility of the plane being used to target India in 9/11 manner. “As per the reports, the aircraft was flying at a height of around 35,000 feet and it is very difficult to go undetected at that altitude...It is difficult because you need proper planning and you cannot do something like this flying at those heights,” he said.
Former Western Air Commander Air Marshal A.K. Singh said, “The aircraft passing over mainland India and going away undetected is very difficult.”
Pakistan says plane not on its soil
Islamabad: Pakistan’s top aviation official on Saturday dismissed Western media reports that the missing Malaysia Airlines plane might be hidden somewhere in the country. “It’s wrong, the plane never came towards Pakistan,” special assistant to the Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem told Dawn.com. His attention was drawn on the reports which said the disappeared plane could have potentially reached as far as Pakistan. “Pakistan’s civil aviation radars never spotted this jet, so how it could be hidden somewhere in Pakistan?” he said.
