The Big Picture: Accidental Shooting of Civilian Aircraft

The Big Picture: Accidental Shooting of Civilian Aircraft - The Laws & Responsibilities

Fatin January 13, 2020

Days after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed in Iran, killing all 176 people on board, the Islamic Republic has admitted that it "unintentionally" shot down the plane... after previously rejecting suggestions that it was to blame.On Saturday morning, an Iranian military statement read on state TV, announced that it had struck the Boeing 737 with a missile - by mistake.It said the plane had turned towards a "sensitive military centre" of the Revolutionary Guards and had the "flying posture and altitude of an enemy target". President Hassan Rouhani called this mistake "unforgivable". Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei ordered the military to investigate "the possible shortcomings or mistakes" that led to the crash... and also take necessary measures to prevent it from happening again.Countries like Canada and Ukraine, which lost its citizens in the crash have now demanded punishment for those responsible and also compensation for the victims' families. But the incident, which claimed 176 innocent lives, has once again brought to the fore concerns over the safety of airline passengers in or even flying over conflict zones, and the laws and responsibilities involving the downing of an international flight, in particular a civil aviation plane. This is what we're going to analyse on this edition of The Big Picture.

Guest - Prof. Swaran Singh, Chairperson, Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament, JNU,
Neeraj Srivastava, Former Ambassador,
Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Dhruv C. Katoch, Director, India Foundation,

Anchor - Teena Jha

Producer - Sagheer Ahmad