NEW DELHI: Indian PM, Military becomes laughing stock at home and abroadafter the latest claims of the US defence officials.
The Indian government and military is under severe criticism after theirlies were exposed as the US-based Foreign Policy magazine said Pakistan’sall F-16 combat jets have been accounted for.
The report, citing US officials, contradicted an Indian Air Forceassessment that it had shot down one of the jets in February, reports GeoNews. “IAF (Indian Air Force) claim of hitting F-16 by their Mig-21, beforehaving been shot down by PAF (Pakistan Air Force) gets exposed,” said MajorGeneral Asif Ghafoor, director general of the Inter-Services PublicRelations (ISPR), in a tweet.
Two senior US defense officials with direct knowledge of the situation toldForeign Policy magazine that US personnel recently counted Pakistan’s F-16sand found none missing. The US report is a further blow to Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, who had said that India had taught Pakistan alesson.
Indian Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said the US has proved theIndian claim of downing the Pakistani F-16 as wrong. He said the satelliteimages belied the claims of killing Jaish militants in Pakistan. He saidIndian own helicopter was downed and six people died, its plane wasdestroyed and pilot captured, but still the ‘56-inch chest’ is still beaten.
Indian journalist Akash Banerjee said on twitter, “What are these journosdoing? First it turned out that we didn’t shoot down the son of a retiredPAF Air Marshal. Now saikatd’s story is being backed by US data, that therewas no shooting down! Couldn’t Pak have made a cardboard F16 as replacement& got a duplicate pilot?”
Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding Editor of The Wire news website, calledit a “big blow to post Balakot account” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.“So this a big blow to narendramodi’s account of the post Balakot clash: USCounted Pakistan’s F-16 Jets – and Found None Missing,” he wrote on Twitter.
Filmmaker Rakesh Sharma called the entire episode starting with the Balakotmisadventure to the aerial battle with Pakistan “a hasty op sans enoughprep? For 56 to get ‘action’ before elections?!” Writer and photographerSanjukta Basu said that India has become a laughing stock during the ruleof Premier Modi.
“First time in our history we are a laughing stock. USA: India is lyingthey never shot Pak F16, NASA: India’s hooliganism for votes created debriin space. Irresponsible. Global economists: India hiding/manipulating data.Pak: Indian PM is like Quixote tilting at windmills,” Basu wrote in a Tweet.
Former Indian foreign minister Shashi Tharoor also poked fun at Modi forhis false claims. We lost one fighter jet, and probably shot down ownchopper.
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“No satellite images proving Balakot strike. Got our pilot captured andclaim of striking down F-16 turns false. And RXordana says Modi’s Sena isgiving befitting reply to Pakistan,” he said. However, some Indianspreferred to remain in fool’s paradise and refused to admit that they havebeen fooled by their government.
Gaurav Arya, a retired Indian army major, said it was difficult for theUnited States to admit that an obsolete MiG 21 had shot down a muchsuperior flying machine.
“For America, war is a multi-trillion dollar business & the F16 is a globalbrand. There is no way the US can ever admit that a MIG 21 shot down anF16. It will bury the brand for ever & will raise questions on other USweapon systems. Embarrassing for US,” he said on Twitter.
But Christopher Clary, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Universityat Albany, had an informed answer for them.
“Some people say the US knows it lost an F-16 but can’t admit it forcommercial/pride reasons. Let me just say that Pakistan has many enemies inthe US bureaucracy and even more on the Hill, and I think if Pakistan lostan F-16 they would gleefully leak it,” he tweeted.
While Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director at Asia Program and South AsiaSenior Associate at The Wilson Center agreed with Clary.
“Agree completely. Had a Pakistani F-16 really been shot down, someone inUSG would have been happy to leak/admit it,” he tweeted. A defence editorat NDTV speculated that the downed F-16 might have been from Jordan, notfrom US. He said IAF has a lot to explain in this regard.
The UK news agency Reuters has reported that the Foreign Policy magazinereport will be a big jolt for Modi if it is authentic. On the other hand,the IAF is not willing to accept the Foreign Policy report and is adamantthat its claim is true.
