IAF wasn't ready to hit Pak after 2001 Parl attack, says former defence secy

Senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah sat down for an exclusive interview with former defence secretary Yogendra Narain, who revealed that the Indian Air Force wasn't ready to strike back at Pakistan after the 2001 Parliament attack, as almost 50 per cent of the fleet was unserviceable at the time. The revelation is at variance with ex-IAF Chief BS Dhanoa's claim that IAF was ready for any airstrike against Pakistan in 2001.

New Delhi: India had decided to retaliate and strike Pakistan after Pakistan-supported terrorists attacked Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, but according to former defence secretary Yogendra Narain, the Indian Air Force (IAF) wasn’t ready. Narain attended the secretive Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meetings and was actively involved in devising an Indian response to the Pakistan-sponsored attack.

"The matter was discussed in the Cabinet Committee on Security and a decision was taken that we must retaliate. At that time, the then air (IAF) chief (ACM Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy) stated that almost 50 per cent of the fleet was unserviceable at that time...either the fleet was undergoing repairs so that they were not actively ready, either for maintenance or repairs," Narain told ETV Bharat.

"So they (IAF) said we have to make emergency repairs to be done... (and also needed) parts. They blamed the acquisition system. They said they would take time to get actively ready."

"The Army and the Navy were ready (for the strike against Pakistan). IAF had its misgivings. I am glad that ACM Krishnaswamy spoke up frankly on what he thought," said Narain, who was India’s defence secretary from October 20, 2000 to June 30, 2002.

The former defence secretary's position is at variance with former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa’s statement on December 28 that from 2001 onwards the IAF was ready with a plan for any airstrike action against Pakistan.

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"This proposal was put to the government twice. The first time it was put was in 2001 after the parliament attack… In 2001, the asymmetry was very heavily in our favour (vis a vis Pakistan Air Force)… (but) it is a political decision, the national leadership has to decide," Dhanoa had said indicating that the government’s go-ahead to the IAF to attack Pakistan wasn’t forthcoming.

ACM Dhanoa retired from retired on September 30, 2019. It was during his tenure as IAF chief that on February 26, 2019, IAF fighter planes crossed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and bombed terrorist infrastructure near the town of Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Narain says that in 2001 the then Atal Behari Vajpayee-led BJP government gave the green signal for an emergency procurement committee which then was headed by an additional secretary from the defence ministry who was then sent to Russia to procure parts not only for the IAF but also for the Army and the Navy.

"Meanwhile, the US also advised us to exercise restraint, they also advised Pakistan. US assured us that they were taking action against Pakistan and we shouldn’t just jump in. We decided to defer any sudden decision to retaliate against Pakistan," Narian added.

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