Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s attempt to win election through war hysteria and false claims of downing Pakistan’s F-16 aircraft has backfired.
“The truth always prevails and is always the best policy. BJP’s attempt to win elections through whipping up war hysteria and false claims of downing a Pak F 16 has backfired,” he said in a tweet. He said the count by the US Defence officials also confirmed that no F-16 aircraft was missing from Pakistan’s fleet.
The prime minister’s remarks came a day after the Foreign Policy, a prestigious American magazine, said in a report quoting US defense officials that India’s claim that its fighter pilot shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in a dogfight in February is wrong. “Two senior US defence officials with direct knowledge of the situation told Foreign Policy that US personnel recently counted Islamabad’s F-16s and found none missing,” the magazine said in a report.
India had claimed that in an aerial duel on February 27, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman had engaged with one of the Pakistani fighter jets that targeted Indian military facilities and shot it down before he was hit and forced to eject. Varthaman was captured by Pakistan Army and later returned to India amid attempts to de-escalate the crisis between the two sides.
According to the Foreign Policy magazine, Pakistan invited the United States to physically count its F-16 planes after the incident as part of an end-user agreement signed when the foreign military sale was finalized. “A US count of Pakistan’s F-16 fleet has found that all the jets are present and accounted for, a direct contradiction to India’s claim that it shot down one of the fighter jets during a February clash,” magazine correspondent Lara Seligman had reported.
Shelter homes:
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday urged all provincial and federal elected representatives to visit shelter homes in their respective areas and share meals with the people staying there.
In a statement on Twitter, Prime Minister Khan said, “Our prov [provincial] & fed [federal] elected reps [representatives] must visit Panah Gahs [shelter homes] in their areas & share a meal with the people using them.”
Khan stressed that this practice “will sensitise them [representatives] to issues faced by the bottom tier of our society.”
He added that in coming months, “I will personally monitor effectiveness of our poverty alleviation jihad.”
PM Khan on Wednesday had paid a surprise visit to a shelter home in Rawalpindi and reviewed the facilities being provided to homeless people on the eve of Shab-e-Miraj.
During interaction with the homeless people, the prime minister had asked about the facilities being provided to them. The prime minister had said that the state was responsible for provision of food and shelter to the helpless people.
