Not Again We Hope! | Oscar-Tango by Irshad Salim

NEW JERSEY, MAY 17 - Once again Pakistan has been pushed into media limelight with the "mysterious" death of its eminent army pilot, retired brigadier Zakaullah Bhangoo.

Mr Bhangoo, who for eight years flew VVIP flights while serving in the Pakistani army, was killed this week along with a Briton in a plane crash in Turkey.

The mainstream, high circulation Turkish daily Hurriyet reported it as a "mysterious crash" -- of his small aircraft near Trabzon, under the headline "Again, Iran. Again, A General. Again, Nuclear Espionage."

He had been under surveillance by Turkish intelligence, the country's interior minister said. Amidst claims that the men may have been carrying nuclear materials, its state news agency Anatolian quoted the Trabzon governor Nuri Okutan as saying: "All aspects of the case are being investigated."

Hurriyet said that on May 10, during a visit to Ankara, retired Pakistani brigadier Zakaullah Bhangoo, who the newspaper claimed is close to President Pervez Musharraf, flew in a Sky Arrow 650T craft piloted by a Briton, Michael Newman, to the Turkish city of Trabzon, on the Black Sea. After spending the night in a small neighborhood hotel, the two took off for Tebriz, Iran.

When the plane did not arrive at its destination, search and rescue operations were launched; the remains of the plane and the bodies of the two were found in a forested area near Trabzon.

The Trabzon hotel manager told reporters after the accident that police and officials from the country's National Intelligence Agency (MİT) had frequently come to the hotel to ask questions about them.

The two men had dared a risky flight with a small plane above the mountainous area, instead of taking a scheduled flight, feeding suspicions, said Milliyet, another Turkish newspaper.

Mr Bhangoo's daring helicopter-rescue operation during the 1992 Neelum Valley floods was featured in the Reader�s Digest July 1994 issue as Drama in Real Life. Even after retirement, he was pursuing his passion for flying and had taken on ultra light flying around the world as a challenge.

The Turkish daily Hurriyet reported that authorities had confirmed that its intelligence service (MIT), and possibly also the CIA and the Mossad, were tailing Mr Bhangoo due to suspicions that he might be traveling to Iran to deliver nuclear know-how and possibly parts for nuclear plants.

Newspaper reports said Wednesday that the high-quality fuel that planes of that type should use was not available in Trabzon and that the fuel obtained there might have caused the plane to crash during the trip.

The investigations however remain focused on possible Iranian nuclear program related espionage connection.

Even though it is possible that the crash was due to bad weather or the plane having used wrong type of fuel, still, reports say all eyes are focused on a 007 type rendezvous.

MSNBC on its website reported today that preliminary results suggested the plane was refueled with the wrong type of fuel.

The influential Turkish paper Hurriyet said that Mr Bhangoo�s choice to fly by small private aircraft rather than a commercial flight to Iran, his stay at a low-profile hotel in Trabzon, and the intelligence and security teams trailing him raised suspicions that he could have been conducting nuclear espionage.

Asked whether the two people on board -- a British pilot and a Pakistani national, who reports said was a retired general -- were being watched, Interior Minister Osman G�neş told reporters "yes."

We hope it's not all over again after A Q Khan, said Pakistani-American Jamil Usman.

More on brigadier Bhangoo

Born in Sheikhupura in 1948, Cahudhry Zakaullah Bhangoo was educated in Lawrence College Ghoragali. He was commissioned form Pakistan Military Academy in 1968. He has had an illustrious career as an army aviator where he was the commander of VVIP flight for 8 years. He had over 6500 hours of flying experience on all types of aircrafts. Even after retirement, he was pursuing his passion for flying and had taken on ultra light flying around the world as a challenge. His daring helicopter rescue operation during the 1992 Neelum Valley floods was featured in Reader's Digest (July 1994) as Drama in Real Life. He was married with three sons, two of whom are in the army.

(Filed by Irshad Salim)

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