On Monday, India conferredlinkagallantry award on a fighter pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, for shooting downa Pakistani F-16 jet during a 2019 dogfight over the disputed Kashmirterritory. The problem is that India has yet to share convincing evidenceproving that an enemy aircraft was truly brought down during the skirmish.
Instead, it was actually the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet that hit WingCommander Abhinandan’s MiG-21 Bison on February 27, 2019.
Abhinandan – now famous for his long moustache – was captured on thePakistani side of Kashmir after he ejected from his damaged, Russian-madeaircraft.
He was handed over to India a few days later as part of Islamabad’s bid toease tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours. The two rivals havefought multiple wars and engaged in skirmishes on Kashmir’s de-factoborder, known as the Line of Control.[image: Pakistan say it deployed its JF-17 jets and not the US-made F-16sin the 2019 dogfight with Indian Air Force.]Pakistan say it deployed itsJF-17 jets and not the US-made F-16s in the 2019 dogfight with Indian AirForce. (AP)
US officials, independent researchers and Islamabad have all confirmed thatnone of the 76 US-made F-16s in Pakistan’s inventory were lost in theskirmish. The incident followed an Indian air strike across the border at aplace called Balakot, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“The citation of the award to the downed Indian pilot is a classic case ofIndian fabrications and pure fantasy to appease (its) domestic audience andhide the embarrassment,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statementlink.
Abhinandan, who has since been promoted to Group Captain, was awarded theVir Chakra — the third highest gallantry commendation in India — byPresident Ram Nath Kovind. The glamorous ceremony was attended by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.
The event was widely covered by Indian news outlets. None mentioned thefact that international observers do not agreelinkIndia’s account of the air engagement.
Pakistani social media users had a field day trolling Abhinandan and hissupporters.
What really happened?
Within weeks of the dogfight, US officials were in Pakistan to count theF-16s. America’s strict defence regulations call for periodic checks of itsmilitary equipment used by other countries.
At the time, the Foreign Policy magazinelinkIndia’s claim. It cited US government sources, which confirmed that allF-16s in Pakistan’s possession were accounted for.
Misinformation was peddled widely to substantiate the Indian claim. Forinstance, soon after the skirmish, pictures were circulated on social mediathat showed the General Electric-made engine of the downed F-16.
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But as this analysislinkpointsout, Pakistan has only used Pratt & Whitney engines on its F-16s.
Indian officials have maintained they had credible information to provethat an F-16 was indeed brought down by Abhinandan.
In a press briefing on April 8, 2019, Indian Air Force (IAF) Air ViceMarshal R.G.K. Kapoor claimed that Pakistan F-16s fired multipleAmerican-made AMRAAM missiles.
Experts believelinkthatthe information Kapoor released more than a month after the skirmish isn’tenough to back New Delhi’s side of the story.
India was never able to verify the name of the squadron to which the F-16belonged. Neither could the government identify the Pakistani pilot who, asper India’s claims, had ejected after being hit by Abhinandan.
The dogfight occurred months before national elections in India. Pakistanaccuses Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of whippingup nationalistic fervour to win votes. BJP won the May election in 2019.
What led to the air skimirsh was a February 14, 2019, suicide attack inIndian-administered Kashmir, in a region called Pulwama, in which 40soldiers were killed.
The attack was allegedly carried out by a local Kashmiri militant but NewDelhi pointed fingers at Pakistan, accusing its archrival of orchestratingthe deadly attack.
In what it claimed was retaliation, IAF jets dropped bombs in Balakot,Pakistan. Indian officials also said they had targeted and destroyed amilitant training camp in which “large number of terrorists” were killed.
But several independent investigations using satellite imagery — includingone conducted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute — showedlinkthatthose strikes had missed their target. – TRT World
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