The IAF on Friday made a cargo plane from Georgia to force-land at Jaipur on Friday after it entered the Indian airspace from Karachi through an undesignated route in Gujarat. Fighter jets including SU-30s were scrambled to intercept the plane after it initially did not respond to radio call from Indian controlling agencies.  The incident took place at a time when the entire western border with Pakistan is on high alert post Pulwama terror attack and subsequent events and the IAF is on full alert.

“Investigations by various agencies are now on about the incident on Friday.  It was learnt the Indian radars picked up the plane entering north Gujarat from Karachi through an undesignated route at about 3.15 pm and after not getting any response, the IAF finally made the plane to force land at Jaipur at about 4.30 pm  . The plane is operated by Motor Sich airlines registered in Ukraine and most probably deviated from its designated flight path while coming to India.

Giving details, the IAF said in an official statement later that an unknown aircraft entered Indian Air Space in North Gujarat Sector at 15.15 hours with its IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe) ‘on’. The aircraft did not follow the authorised Air Traffic Services (ATS) route and was not responding to Radio calls from Indian controlling agencies.

Since ATS routes in the area were closed due to the current geopolitical situation, and the

aircraft entered Indian Air Space from an unscheduled point, the Air Defence interceptor on operational readiness was scrambled and vectored towards the unknown aircraft for investigation. On visual contact, the aircraft was identified as Georgian An-12 flying at 27,000feet.

The aircraft neither responded on international distress frequency nor to visual signals during interception. However, when challenged, the aircraft responded and informed that it was a non scheduled An-12 aircraft that had got airborne from Tbilisi (Georgia) for Delhi via Karachi. The aircraft was shadowed and forced to land at Jaipur for necessary investigation, officials said.

While the probe will find out the facts, Rajasthan and Gujarat besides the entire North including Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir international border is on heightened alert after the February 13 Pulwama attack followed by Indian air strikes in Balakot on February 26 and Pakistan retaliating the next day in Rajouri

sector by trying to hit Indian military

establishments by its jets.

At least two unmanned aerial vehicles used by the Pakistan Army to gather intelligence about Indian positions on the international border in Rajasthan were shot down by the IAF jets and the Army early last month.  Both the UAVs crashed on the Pakistani side.

 Also, Pakistan closed several entry and exit points in its airspace for commercial flights coming from India since the Balakot attack and these routes remain closed even now forcing the international flights to take longer route for Europe and US as the Pakistani airspace is blocked.