It's Called Murder

Much is being made these days about the Pakistani man who contacted the Indian daughter of a man he killed 46 years ago, when, as a fighter pilot, he downed the aircraft piloted by the woman's father. He has apologized for the incident, attributing it to the state of war between their two countries. No doubt that the gesture deserves to be recognized, but there is one thing that is most disturbing in all this: the military pilot shot down a civilian aircraft that he himself realized that presented no danger to him or anybody else. The small plane with eight passengers had gotten off course accidentally into Pakistani territory, and yet, instead of escorting it out of his country's territory, the pilot asked for orders, and was told to, essentially, murder those people. He did.

At least since the Nuremberg trials, it's clear that unlawful orders are not to be obeyed. The man knew that what he was doing was wrong, so much so that he has admitted that he hoped that they wouldn't order him to shoot the plane down. So, his gesture sounds a little hollow. I suppose that, at bottom, he knows that there is really no excuse for what he did, and wants some type of absolution or forgiveness.