Pakistan on Tuesday strongly refuted Indian accusations that a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet was shot down by an Indian pilot before he was apprehended and detained by Pakistan in Azad Jammu and Kashmir in February 2019, calling them “completely unfounded.”
As the Foreign Office put it, “the citation of the medal to the downed Indian pilot is a typical instance of Indian fabrications and sheer imagination to placate local audiences and conceal humiliation.”
Officials from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the United States verified that no Pakistani F-16s were shot down on the day in question after taking stock of the Pakistani F-16 fleet.
According to the report, India’s “insistence on disseminating a falsehood that has been completely revealed” is “ludicrous and absurd.”
According to the FO, awarding military medals for fictitious acts of valour is in violation of every military code of conduct and procedure.
“By awarding such a prize, which was also given as an afterthought, India has only made a mockery of itself,” the statement stated.
It is worth recalling that on February 27, 2019, the Pakistan Air Force shot down two Indian planes during a daring daytime operation. One of India’s Mig-21 Bison fighter planes was shot down over Azad Jammu & Kashmir on Sunday.
The pilot who ejected was apprehended by Pakistani authorities and then freed as a show of goodwill. Even in the face of Indian hostility and an ill-conceived aggressive move, his return to India served as evidence of the Pakistani people’s yearning for peace. Another Indian aircraft, an SU-30, was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force and crashed on the opposite side of the Line of Control.
A panicked Indian military fired down its own MI 17 helicopter near Srinagar on the same day, a claim that was originally disputed but subsequently acknowledged. On this particular day, the Indian Air Force was comprehensively outplayed.
“It is clear that India’s ludicrous explanation has no credibility whatsoever in the eyes of the international world,” the FO said.
In turn, Pakistan maintains the same level of preparedness and resolve to counter any hostile plans as it did in February 2019, the statement said.
In a statement, the Foreign Office stated, “India would do well to learn from its disastrous effort to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and desist from any future misadventures.”
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