India removes senior IAF officer

NEW DELHI: The Indian government has removed a senior air force officer reportedly after Pakistan’s successful strikes and capturing of a pilot on February 27.

According to Indian media reports, Eastern Air Command chief Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar has been appointed as the new chief of Indian Air Force's Western Air Command (WAC) on Thursday in place of Air Marshal C Harikumar. The decision came after Pakistan’s surprise response against Indian aggression on Wednesday when two IAF fighter jets were shot down and a pilot was arrested for violating airspace.

The WAC is headquartered in New Delhi and controls the area from north of Bikaner in Rajasthan up to Siachen Glacier and controls almost 40 per cent of the air bases of the Indian Air Force. Harikumar was posted as WAC chief in January 2017.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Indian Defence Ministry said that the officer has retired. “Air Marshal Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar PVSM AVSM VM VSM ADC, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Air Command Indian Air Force retired on 28 February 2019 after an illustrious career spanning over 39 yrs,” the statement reads.