WASHINGTON – Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo recalled a series ofarmed clashes consisting of cross-border airstrikes between nuclear-armedPakistan and India back in 2019.
The close aide of former US president Donald Trump mentioned the 2019tensions in his latest book *Never Give an Inch: Fighting for America ILove.*
As tension remain unabated between the two sides, Pompeo’s revelation inhis book unveiled the famous chapter as he mentioned that Islamabad and NewDelhi were too close to nuclear war in 2019 and that Washington’sintervention avert escalation.
The former diplomat said “I do not think the world properly knows just howclose the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclearconflagration in February 2019”.
Pompeo said he will never forget the night when he was awakened to speakwith his Indian counterpart. Late Sushma Swaraj believed Islamabad hadbegun to prepare their nuclear weapons for a strike, saying I told her todo nothing and give us a minute to sort things out.
He then mentioned approaching former Pakistan Chief of Army Staff GeneralQamar Javed Bajwa, and he told the latter what the Indians had told him.Bajwa said it wasn’t true.
Pompeo said it took some time to convince both archrivals that no side waspreparing for nuclear war
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He took credit, saying “no other nation could have done what we did thatnight to avoid a horrible outcome.”
In 2019, two Pakistan Air Force jets targeted two Indian warplanes in adogfight and shot them down along the Line of Control (LoC), the military’sspokesman has confirmed.
After an aerial engagement in Jammu and Kashmir’s Nowshera sector, Pakistanclaimed that it captured one Indian pilot.
The downed pilot was identified as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman andseen in a video of what appears to be an interview at a Pakistani Air base,in which he praised the professionalism of Pakistan Army but denied toshare any sensitive information.
His warplane, MiG 21 Bison, hit by Wing Commander Nauman Ali Khan, hadcrashed on Pakistani side of the Line of Control, while the second IAFfighter jet Sukhoi Su-30, which was downed by Sqn Leader Hassan Siddiqui,landed on the Indian side.