From fog of ’65 War, Pak pilot emails kin of downed Indian

A former Pakistan Air Force pilot has expressed his condolences to the daughter of an Indian civil aircraft pilot almost half-a-century after he shot down the plane during the 1965 Indo-Pak war, a media report here said.
“Qais Hussain, a rookie Flying Officer during the 1965 war, made this moving and humane gesture via an email expressing his condolences and providing

details of the circumstances under which he shot down the Indian aircraft,” wrote a local daily. In the email, the Pakistani pilot also expresses a desire to meet her in person to condole the death of her father.
The email is addressed to Farida Singh, daughter of Indian Air Force pilot Jahangir “Jangoo” Engineer, one of the three famous Engineer brothers of the IAF.
Pakistan and India have fought three major wars since independence in 1947. The two sides have now started a dialogue to ensure peace in the region but the distrust has never faded away.
The email, with the subject line “Condolence”, dated Friday, August 5, 2011, is copied to Naushad Patel and Jagan Pillarisetti, the Indian contacts who helped Hussain reach out to the bereaved family, something he had wanted to do for some time.
Hussain forwarded the email to a group email for PAF colleagues, saying, “Most of you would recall that I had shot down an Indian civil aircraft after being scrambled from Mauripur in the 1965 War.” Referring to an April 2011 article by Air Cdre Kaiser Tufail (“The Gujarat Beechcraft Incident — 1965 War”, http://bit.ly/qhltr65 [1]) that details the incident, he says it was Naveed Riaz, a Lahore-based businessman and aviation enthusiast, who helped him get in touch with the Indian contacts through whom he then managed to reach Jahangir Engineer’s daughter.
“I had decided to write a note of condolence, which I was able to do today, and it is attached in full here below for your information,” he wrote to his PAF colleagues.
“Mrs Singh, I have chosen to go into this detail to tell you that it all happened in the line of duty and it was not governed by the concept that everything is fair in love and war,” Mr Hussain wrote in the email.