Mount international probe into crash of MH17 that fell victim to a civil war

It's turning out to be a year of tragedies for Malaysian Airlines. Within four months of the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370, the crash of Flight MH17 in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine has shocked the world again. MH17 was ferrying 298 passengers from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Prima facie evidence suggests that the Malaysian aircraft was shot down over pro-Russia rebel-held territory, killing all on board.

The incident is bound to have major repercussions for the Ukrainian crisis and international geopolitics. For months now eastern Ukraine has witnessed heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia rebels.

Earlier this week two Ukrainian military aircraft were shot down in the same region. It's possible that MH17 was attacked after it was mistaken for a Ukrainian army transport plane by the insurgents.

That said, both Kiev and the rebels have denied involvement in the tragedy and blamed the other for shooting down the Malaysian airliner. Ukrainian authorities have released audio recordings of alleged conversations between rebel fighters and their Russian handlers that indicate their complicity.

In such a scenario, it’s imperative that a thorough bipartisan international probe is conducted into the incident.

It's welcome that the rebels have said they will allow investigators access to the crash site. However, some reports suggest that one of the black boxes from the aircraft was recovered by the rebels and sent to Moscow. If true, it's tampering with crucial evidence.

Russia cannot escape responsibility for the tragic event. Since the Crimean reunification earlier this year, Moscow has continued to provide material and political support to the rebels in eastern Ukraine.

In recent weeks, it has been accused of transferring heavy weaponry — like the surface-to-air Buk missile system thought to have brought down MH17 — to the insurgents.

Such sophisticated military hardware in the hands of rag-tag militias was a disaster waiting to happen. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for an urgent settlement of the Ukrainian crisis in the wake of the tragedy.

However, Moscow itself has been a principal player in the crisis. It should refrain from aiding the insurgents at any level — let alone with sophisticated missile systems such as the Buk. After all, in place of a Malaysian airliner, a Russian airliner too could have been in the line of fire.

There's food for thought for New Delhi as well. An Air India flight with 126 people on board was right behind MH17 when it was brought down.

Given New Delhi's good equation with Moscow, it should tell the Russians privately not to arm insurgents in a neighbouring country — something that India too has borne the brunt of in case of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

For now, investigations into the MH17 crash must be allowed unhindered to establish objectively the reason for the tragedy.