Aftermath
The next day, Pakistan fired missiles on one of the three helicopters carrying journalists into the region. Pakistan said that it fired on Indian fighter jets that were escorting the helicopters and had come inside Pakistani territory.
In India, the incident made the two pilots of the MiG-21s into instant heroes. On October 8, 2000, the prestigious Vayusena medal was awarded to Squadron Leader P.K. Bundela. The medal was also awarded to Wing Commander V.S. Sharma (the fighter controller who tracked the Atlantique, guided the pilot and ordered him to attack the plane) and Squadron Leader Pankaj Vishnoi, the helicopter pilot who recovered a part of the Atlantique's debris from the marshy border regions of the Rann.
The downing of the Pakistani aircraft came at a particularly bad juncture for the Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, who was already under attack from politicians for ordering a withdrawal of its troops from Kargil. Two months later he was deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
Read more about this topic: Atlantique Incident
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“The aftermath of joy is not usually more joy.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)