Shehbaz demands joint commission to probe AJK firing incident

The helicopter of AJK premier was fired upon by Indian army from across the Line of Control.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Monday demanded that the government immediately form a joint committee for probing into the incident of firing on the helicopter of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider.

Shehbaz in a twitter message had earlier said India wanted to hide its human rights violations in Indian-occupied Kashmir by engaging in such incidents.

“Just spoke to Raja Farooq Haider, PM AJK whose helicopter was fired at by Indian forces. India wants to hide its oppression on Kashmiris through such incidents. Pakistan will continue 2 stand by the people of Occupied Kashmir in their just struggle for right to self-determination,” he said.

Farooq Haider said he was travelling to offer condolences on the demise of an acquaintance when his white civil helicopter was fired upon by Indian army from across the Line of Control.

“The Indian army fired to show that Pakistan had violated their airspace,” his office said in a statement, but added “when the firing took place, we were within our own airspace”.

It is mandatory for Pakistan and India to inform each other beforehand the movement of military aircrafts. The procedure, however, is not a prerequisite for the movement of civil helicopters.

The AJK premier said India overplayed the incident as the helicopter remained atop Pakistan’s airspace the whole time.

“It wasn’t a gunship but a private helicopter carrying me and my ministers and India created a drama out of it,” he said.