The decision came after Pakistan’s surprise response against Indian aggression on Wednesday
Islamabad (Pakistan Point News – 1st March, 2019) India has reportedly removed one of its senior air force officers after Pakistan shot down its jets this week.
According to reports on Indian media, Eastern Air Command chief Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar has been appointed as the new chief of Indian Air Force's Western Air Command (WAC) on Thursday in place of Air Marshal C Harikumar.
The decision came after Pakistan’s surprise response against Indian aggression on Wednesday when two IAF fighter jets were shot down and a pilot was arrested for violating airspace.
The WAC is headquartered in New Delhi and controls the area from north of Bikaner in Rajasthan up to Siachen Glacier and controls almost 40 per cent of the air bases of the Indian Air Force.
Harikumar was posted as WAC chief in January 2017.
In a statement issued today, the Indian Defence Ministry said that the officer has retired.
“Air Marshal Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar PVSM AVSM VM VSM ADC, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command Indian Air Force retired on 28 February 2019 after an illustrious career spanning over 39 yrs," the statement reads.
The Pakistani military said on Wednesday it had shot down two Indian warplanes in the disputed region of Kashmir, responding to an airstrike a day earlier by Indian aircraft against what New Delhi said was a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad, considered a terrorist group by India, and located on the Pakistani soil across the Line of Control.
The Indian airstrike came after a deadly attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad on the Indian paramilitary police force in Kashmir earlier this month. While India has accused Pakistan of supporting the militants and having a "direct hand" in the incident, Pakistan, in turn, has rejected the allegations, accusing India of being responsible for human rights violations taking place in Kashmir.
