Mole in IAF helped Pakistan plan attack: 1965 war hero

NEW DELHI: A 1965 war gallantry award winner, Wing Commander (retd) Jag Mohan Nath, on Monday said a "Pakistani mole" had been detected in the IAF's Western Air Command (WAC) in the run-up to the conflict.

Nath, who was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra twice for flying several secret reconnaissance missions over Pakistan on his Canberra aircraft during the war, said the "mole" was a group captain handling flight movements at the WAC.

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"He had given information to Pakistani intelligence that led to the shooting down of an Indian surveillance aircraft over Pakistan in April 1959. The Pakistani Sabre fighters were waiting for our plane on that day," Nath told TOI.

The group captain was later removed from his post. "Why take his name? He is no longer alive. But to maintain top secrecy during the 1965 war, the then IAF chief Arjan Singh used to directly give me, a lowly squadron leader, orders for the surveillance missions to be flown," Nath said.

Flight commander of the strategic photo reconnaissance squadron, Nath led his unit in risky missions several times over hostile territory to obtain vital information of enemy locations and defences in the long-distance flights.