Finding further holes in the Indian narrative on use of F-16 jets by Pakistan and the Balakot strike, New York Times journalist Maria Abi-Habib has pointed out that Islamabad may not have violated its F-16 sales agreement with Washington contrary to New Delhi’s claims even if the US fighter jets were involved in the downing of two Indian Air Force jets in a rare dogfight last month.
Tensions between the South Asian neighbours escalated following a suicide car bombing on February 14 that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-held Kashmir. New Delhi accused Islamabad of harbouring the Jaish-e-Mohammad group behind the attack, which Islamabad vehemently denied.
Indian warplanes carried out airstrikes inside Pakistan on what New Delhi called militant camps in Balakot. Islamabad denied any such camps existed, as did local villagers in the area. The next day, Pakistan retaliated with its own aerial mission, which led to Pakistan shooting down two Indian jets and capture of an Indian Air Force pilot, who was later handed over to New Delhi as gesture of peace.
Pakistan said the Indian planes missed whatever they were aiming at, and that nobody died in the attack outside Balakot in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
New Delhi complained that the aircraft used by the PAF to ingress into Indian-held Kashmir had included an F-16 which it claimed the Indian Air Force (IAF) had shot down. The PAF, however, had denied that F-16 jets were used against India.
Indian insisted that Pakistan’s use of F-16 meant that Islamabad stood in violation of a sales agreement with the US, which allegedly restricts the fighter jets to be used for anti-terrorism sorties only.
But NYT’s South Asia correspondent in her tweets on Wednesday explained how Pakistan may not have committed any such violation even if it did use F-16s to shoot down Indian jets. “US says if Pakistan used an F-16 to shoot down an Indian MiG, it may not have violated sale agreement. India says deal limits Pakistan to use jets only for counter-terror operations,” Maria tweeted. “US officials are pushing back hard on India’s interpretation of their F-16 sale agreement with Pakistan. They say if India entered Pakistan airspace for a second day, and Pakistan used the jet defensively, the contract wasn’t violated,” she continued. “So this all comes down to: what really happened last week — is Pakistan’s version to be believed or India’s ? American officials at this moment say they are assessing if an F16 was used and in what manner 5) Pak says they didn’t use F16, but JF17, a jet they produce w/China,” she added. “8) Weapons experts/ officials say the fragmented casings of AIM-120 India showed don’t really prove whether F16 was shot down. US says they’re still assessing, but dont know if F16 was/wasnt downed. Dont shoot the messenger folks, this is what officials say as they investigate,” she concluded.
Published in Daily Times, March 7th 2019.
