A WikiLeaks cable, which NDTV has exclusive access to, says Pakistan's airmen were being radicalised and were sabotaging Pakistani F-16s deployed for security operations along the Afghan border.
The cable, sent in March 2006 from the US embassy to Washington, quotes Pakistan's then Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Operations, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Khalid Chaudhry, as saying that the airmen, most of whom came from rural villages, were being radicalised by extremist Islamic clerics.
The cable quotes AVM Chaudhry as saying, "You can't imagine what a hard time we have trying to get to trim their beards."
The cable notes that, "This last comment refers to the tradition of conservative Muslims to grow full beards as a sign of piety." |