The capture of Wing Commander Abhinandan, if true, is a grim reminder of the capture of K Nachiketa on 27 May 1999.
During the Kargil War, Flight Lieutenant Kambampati Nachiketa was captured after his MiG-27 suffered a flameout while destroying enemy positions in the Batalik subsector.
Nachiketa was assigned with the duty of hitting enemy targets at altitudes over 17,000 feet with deadly 80 mm rockets. On the fateful day of May 27, 1999, Nachiketa was carrying out strikes against enemy posts from his MiG 27 fighter aircraft. Disaster struck when his aircraft experienced engine failure while raining rockets on the Munthadalo range in the Batalik area. Left with no option, he had to eject from the jet.
He was soon captured by Pakistan and officers started beating him. About the incident, he later said:
“The jawans who had captured me were trying to manhandle me and maybe trying to kill me because, for them, I was just an enemy pilot who had fired on their locations from the air… Fortunately, the officer who came was very mature. He realised the situation that I am now a captive and now I need not be handled that way. So he was able to control them, which was a big effort because they were very aggressive at that stage.”
Meanwhile, India had started mounting international pressure on Pakistan for the release of K Nachiketa. Bowing to scrutiny from international media as well as the United Nations, Pakistan finally released Kambampati Nachiketa eight days later on June 3, 1999.
“It was very tough. I can’t describe that experience in words. That time I thought maybe death is a simpler solution. But I am thankful to God that destiny was on my side. I underwent severe mental and physical torture there for three-four days,” Nachiketa told Hindustan Times during an interview in 2016.
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