The Chief Minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir Omar Abdullah Tuesday said the new Indian government needs to sort out defense procurement immediately.

Abdullah's statement comes minutes after an Indian Air Force ( IAF) pilot was killed during a MiG-21 jet fighter crash in Indian- controlled Kashmir.

"Not entirely disconnected from today's crash, the new Government needs to sort of defense procurement issue for Navy, Air Force and Army as soon as possible," Abdullah wrote on twitter.

The MiG-21 crashed at village Marhama -Bijbehara, about 50 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Officials said the MiG-21 was on a routine sortie in the area and had taken off from the Srinagar technical airport in the morning.

On Monday, the new Indian Government headed by Narendra Modi of rightwing Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) was sworn into office.

The charge of Defense ministry has been given to Arun Jaitley, the new finance minister of India.

Jaitley Tuesday told a new Delhi based television news channel that he expects a full-time Defense Minister to be named in a couple of weeks.

"Defense is an additional charge with me until the expansion of the council of ministers," he told channel.

The body of the pilot Raghu Nabsi has been retrieved.

According to police there were no reports of damage to civilians or their properties because of the MiG-21 crash

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

Reports said IAF has inducted over 900 MiG-21 in its fleet over the past 40 years and many of these planes were lost in crashes.

Of late India is phasing out its MiG-21 squadron, following incidents of its frequent crashes in the past. Endi

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)