April 7, 2019
ISLAMABAD: The ruling party in India is trying to whip up a war hysteria to
mobilise mass support to win the forthcoming parliamentary elections there,
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has alleged.
Accusing the BJP, the party leading a coalition at the Central Government in
India, of making false claims of downing a Pakistani F-16 fighter during the
February aerial skirmishes between the two countries, as part of war- mongering
by India, Imran Khan said the US had made a physical count of the fighters in
Pakistani fleet and found none missing.
"The truth always prevails and is always the best policy. BJP's attempt to
win elections through whipping up war hysteria and false claims of downing a
Pak F 16 has backfired with US Defence officials also confirming that no F16
was missing from Pakistan's fleet," the Pakistani Prime Minister said in a tweet.
Imran Khan was quoting from American magazine 'Foreign Policy' which reported
last week that the US had made a count of the F-16 fighters it had sold to Pakistan
to check the veracity of allegations of violations of the terms of purchase
contract in the combat with IAF. According to the report, Pentagon officials
told the publication that no fighter was found missing in the verification conducted
by the Americans and that the Indian Air Force's claims of downing an F-16 in
the February 27 aerial combat was false.
However, the IAF challenged the Foreign policy version. It reiterated that
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down a Pakistani F-16 before his MiG-21
was downed by a Pakistani missile. Abhinandan landed in Pakistani territory
and was taken into custody by Pakistani army.
As proof of intrusion by F-16, India produced wreckage of AMRAAM missiles which
could be loaded only on F-16s.
The February 27 aerial battle was the fallout of Indian Air Force attack on
a terrorist camp in Balakot, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, beyond
the Pak-occupied Kashmir. The Indian action was triggered by the terrorist bomb
attack on a convoy of CRPF moving from Jammu to Srinagar on February 14, killing
40 jawans. India believes that the frequent terrorist attacks, especially in
Kashmir, are sponsored by Pakistan's ISI to back up the violent, separatist
movement in Jammu and Kashmir. The Government of India accuses Pakistan of barbouring
terrorists and shielding terrorist training camps inside its territory. Masood
Azhar-led Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) had claimed responsibility for the bomb attack
on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama.
