Meet Kargil Hero Pilot Nachiketa who was Tortured By Pak And Still An IAF Pilot

By Sona Kadam on July 26, 2016 at 1:09 PM

The kargil war is one of the war that India will never forget and there are many stories and heroes that the war saw.we remember some but some of the names lost in the book,so here is an inspirational story of Kargil war hero pilot K Nachiketa who was tortured by Pakistan to limits But Continues To Fly Today

Who is K Nachiketa?

During the Kargil War in 1999, Nachiketa was a 26-year one of the pilots from No.9 Squadron of IAF which took part in the operation launched in Batalik sector on 26 May 1999 who was assigned the task of hitting Pakistani posts in Kargil at altitudes in excess of 17,000 feet.

How come he landed their?

As he was attacking Pakistani post and the engine of his plane flamed out. In mid air, he tried to relight, but after initial success, the attempt failed and the plane headed towards a crash in the mountains. Just half an hour later, he was ambushed by Pakistani soldiers, though not before he unloaded an entire magazine of bullets at them.

The torture

Group Captain Nachiketa, a day before he was captured

Once captured, Nachiketa was taken to one of the Pakistani bases and was tortured ruthlessly and beated him badly till a senior officer emerged and ordered his men to back off. “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. And on-ground, I was firing at them. 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.” He says

How did he return to mother land?

Eight days after he was captured and after intense backdoor efforts made by the government of India to secure his release, and all that resulted when Nachiketa was handed over to the Red Cross which brought him back to India where he was greeted by President KR Narayanan and Prime Minister Vajpayee as a hero.

Today he is a living role model for many of us and a living legend. After 17 years of Kargil, Nachi (as he is known to his friends) tells, “The heart of a pilot is always in the cockpit.”