Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Time to produce some solid proof' that was published in Newsband

Time to produce some solid proof

Two U.S. officials have said they counted the F-16 aircraft in Pakistan and found none missing, throwing doubts on the Indian government’s claim that it had shot down an F-16 during an aerial engagement with Pakistan on February 27. The officials’ comments were made to U.S. magazine Foreign Policy.

The dogfight of February 27 resulted in an Indian aircraft being downed, and its pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman parachuting into the Pakistani territory, leading to his capture (and eventual release).

“The findings directly contradict the account of Indian Air Force officials, who said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman managed to shoot down a Pakistani F-16 before his own plane was downed by a Pakistani missile,” the report said,

India had asked the U.S. to investigate whether Pakistan had breached the terms of its F-16 deal with the Americans. However, the count had now been completed and “all aircraft were present and accounted for,” the official told the magazine.

Truth always prevails. Time for India to speak truth. Eventually every lies gets exposed. Government cannot govern by Perpetual cycle of lies and deceit.

May be Supremacy of US would be on stake had it accepted that F-16 was destroyed by few decades old Mig-21. After all market controls the media also. IAF had lately emphatically stated that F-16 was shot. Should we accept the version so that the confidence of armed force will not shake? Is the US protecting the jet makers’ reputation as a premier manufacturer?

It can now be believed that PM Imran Khan acted with maturity in releasing the Indian captive Abhinandan. Khan is not autonomous enough to say or act on his will

Actually the Americans found more F-16s in Pakistan than sold by them to Pakistan directly or indirectly.

Now Armed Forces must be kept apolitical with greater care, otherwise people will trust over these magazines more than they trust Armed Forces. Time to accept reality. It's time IAF should produce some solid proof.

IAF experts need to probe further and look at the radar records closely. The IAF pilot who claimed to have shot down the F 16 may have a relook as well. Does Pak have more F16s than the supplies from US e.g. from UAE, KSA etc.? Was some Bollywood formula in action used to create some hype? Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Foreign Policy magazine is a very reputed journal and both MOD and IAF must take the report seriously. SInce Abhinandan himself reported a kill, it is possible that he downed an JF-17 plane instead of an F 16. The results of a detailed study by IAF experts must be made public and there should be no hiding under the term "national security".

At the same time the public needs to be told how an MI-17 chopper went down killing nine personnel and whether it was fired at by our own forces. All these doubts need to be cleared with a bold face by the Government.

Pakistan has stated clearly that it never used its F-16s in the retaliatory action, and seems to have stated its JF-17 Thunder was used - which may be the PAF fighter that Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman shot down.

Best thing to do is to stop speculating and demand the proof.