ISLAMABAD – Islamabad firmly rejected the baseless Indian claims of shooting a Pakistani F-16 jet in 2019 aerial combat.
Indian air force’s narrative is not based on facts but rhetoric uttered by the Modi-led government to stay in news and win elections.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) stated “The citation of the award to the downed Indian pilot is a classic case of Indian fabrications and pure fantasy to appease the domestic audience and hide the embarrassment.”
Modi-led government’s insistence on propagating a lie that has been thoroughly exposed is ludicrous and nonsensical. Granting military honours for imaginary feats of gallantry is contrary to every norm of military conduct, it said, adding “By giving such award, also as an afterthought, India has only made a mockery of itself”.
Foreign experts and US officials, after taking stock of Pakistani F-16 aircraft, have already established that no Pakistani F-16 was shot down during the dog fight.
The count conducted by US officials on the ground in Pakistan, opposed the Indian version of events, suggesting that Indian authorities misled the international community about what happened in Feb 2019.
As of now, New Delhi has failed to give any shreds of evidence to counter Pakistan’s position on shooting multirole fighter aircraft.
MOFA responded after IAF captain Abhinandan Varthaman was awarded the gallantry award for shooting down a Pakistani aircraft during combat however the war experts termed the conferment of award to Abhinandan – who was captured by Pakistan – tantamount to undermining the worth of the national award and making a mockery of those who actually fought for the country.
In February 2019, two Indian aircraft were shot down by Pakistan Air Force in daylight action and one of the Mig-21 Bison aircraft fell down in Azad Jammu and Kashmir while the other one SU 30 shot fell on the other side of LOC.