Hours after India Air Force’s yet another botched attempt to present ‘irrefutable proof’ that a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet had been shot down by India on February 27, the chief spokesperson of Pakistani military on Monday said, ‘Repetitions don’t make truth of a lie’.
In a hurriedly-called news conference earlier in the day, the IAF officials presented ‘radar images’ of the dogfight as ‘undeniable evidence’ to give credence to their baseless claim two days after US defence officials contradicted it, saying that all of Islamabad’s F-16s were counted and none were missing.
“The IAF has ‘irrefutable evidence’ of not only use fact that F-16 was used by PAF on 27 February but also that an IAF MiG21 Bison shot down a PAF F-16,” Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor, the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations and Space) was quoted by media as saying in today’s presser.
Responding to the embarrassing press conference, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DG Major General Asif Ghafoor, in a tweet, said, “Despite claiming possession of evidence on shooting F16, IAF is still short of presenting it.”
He also warned the Indian authorities against overlooking “Pakistan’s silence for not drum beating losses on Indian side”, adding that, “Fact is that PAF shot down two IAF jets, wreckage seen on ground by all.”
Repetitions don’t make truth of a lie. Despite claiming possession of evidence on shooting F16, IAF still short of presenting it. Don’t overlook Pakistan’s silence for not drum beating losses on Indian side. Fact is that PAF shot down two IAF jets, wreckage seen on ground by all.
— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) April 8, 2019
Wreckage of second IAF fighter jet downed by PAF.
Ever since India claimed killing over 300 ‘terrorists’ in an airstrike inside Pakistani territory on February 26, New Delhi’s is subjected to repeated embarrassments as back-to-back disclosures ripped apart its claim of hitting the target in Balakot and downing a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet.
Last Friday especially turned out to be ignominious for Modi sarkar. First, US defence officials confirmed that none of the F-16 jets in the PAF fleet was missing. And then when Delhi scurried to jot down a flimsy rebuttal, the Pakistani military revealed more proof to dismantle the very basis of Indian claim.
Pakistan invited US officials to physically count the F-16 planes after the February 27 air battle, the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine reported in an exclusive report on April 5.
The aircraft count quashed the Indian claim that their pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman had shot down a PAF F-16 jet before his own MiG 21 was downed by a Pakistani missile in the Feb 27 air battle.
India hurriedly called hand-picked media persons for an in-camera briefing in a bid to control the damage done by the FP report which had gone viral. The Pakistani military said its stance has been vindicated.
As if it wasn’t enough, the DG ISPR released a photograph showing the intact seekers of all four missiles the MiG-21 Bison jet the PAF shot down had been armed with.
The Bison variant of the MiG-21 that the IAF flies can only carry four air-to-air missiles at a time, suggesting that Wing Commander Abhinandan never got a shot off before his jet was downed.
The Indian claim of decimating the ‘largest terrorist training camp’ in Pakistan in the Feb 26 so-called air strike has already been shred to pieces by international media and experts.Read more: Asif Ghafoor , DG ISPR Asif Ghafoor , i
