India Shoots Down Pak F-16; Pakistan Military Claims to Have Arrested Indian Pilot After Shooting Down 2 IAF Aircraft
The US asked Islamabad to take “meaningful action” against terrorist groups a day after India’s fighter jets crossed the Line of Control and destroyed a major terror training camp.
The Donald Trump administration also called for India and Pakistan to “exercise restraint” amid heightened tension between the two countries.
“We encourage India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, and avoid escalation at any cost,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement today.
Mr Pompeo spoke separately with Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistan counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi. “I also encouraged both ministers to prioritise direct communication and avoid further military activity,” he said.
Mr Pompeo said that in talks with Mr Qureshi, he stressed “the priority of de-escalating current tensions by avoiding military action, and the urgency of Pakistan taking meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil.”
Indian fighter jets crossed the Line of Control before dawn on Tuesday and carried out “non-military, pre-emptive air strikes” within Pakistan to target a training camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, in the biggest escalation between the two countries in decades.
India Air Strikes in Pakistan ‘India Air Force Drops 1,000kg Bomb on Terror Camps’
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is in China today for a meeting with the foreign ministers of Russia and China, defended the air strikes across the Line of Control. “It wasn’t a military operation. No military installation was targeted.
The objective was to act against terrorist infrastructure of JeM to preempt another terror attack in India. India doesn’t wish to see further escalation of situation. It’ll continue to act with responsibility and restraint,” Ms Swaraj said.
The air strikes killed a “very large number” of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders of Jaish, said the government. Sources said over 300 terrorists including Jaish chief Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law were killed, but there is no official figure.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed had killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers in Pulwama on February 14, in the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir.
Last week, US President Donald Trump said that the situation between India and Pakistan is “very dangerous” after the Pulwama attack. “India is looking at something very strong,” he had said.
Surgical Strikes 2.0 LIVE Updates: India shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet that violated the Indian air space in retaliatory fire 3km within Pakistan territory in Lam valley, Nowshera sector. The action came moments after Pakistani jets violated Indian airspace and dropped bombs.
Senior government officials said there were no reports of any casualty. A parachute was reportedly seen when the Pakistani jet went down but the fate of the pilot is unknown.
Pakistan military, meanwhile, has claimed to have arrested an Indian pilot after shooting down two IAF aircraft. Major General Asif Ghafoor, the head of the media wing of Pakistan’s military, claimed in a tweet that one of the aircraft fell in Jammu and Kashmir, while the other fell in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
He also claimed that the Indian Air Force crossed the Line of Control once again today morning. Senior officials in the Indian military establishment told News18 that the India’s aircraft had crashed following a technical snag and that two pilots were killed.
Srinagar, Jammu and Leh airports, meanwhile, are among five airports closed for civilian air traffic shortly after the IAF jet crashed in Kashmir’s Budgam district. The move to close the five airports comes amid escalation of tension between India and Pakistan after IAF carried out strikes on terror bases in Pakistan. Airports at Chandigarh and Amritsar were among those closed, according to airline officials.
A day after the Indian Air Force destroyed the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan in a pre-dawn operation, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he had decided to boycott the OIC since his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj will be in attendance at the event.
“I have spoken to the United Arab Emirates foreign minister and have expressed my reservations over her invitation. I have made myself clear that India has shown aggression,” he said. The OIC is a grouping of 57 countries, most of whom are Muslim majority. It has usually been supportive of Pakistan and, often sided with Islamabad on the Kashmir issue.
Meanwhile, an IAF fighter jet crashed in J&K’s Budgam, with initial reports attributing it to a technical snag. The pilot and co-pilot have been killed in the incident.
Amid the heightened tension, US has urged Pakistan and India to exercise restraint. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he has spoken to Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, and urged the two nuclear-armed rivals to “avoid escalation at any cost”. Meanwhile, Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday raised the recent Pulwama suicide attack on CRPF soldiers in her bilateral meeting with Chinese counterpart Minister Wang Yi.
Imran Khan also had a telephonic conversation with UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as well as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman over the development. On the request of Pakistan, the OIC summoned an emergency meeting of its Kashmir Contact Group at its General Secretariat in Riyadh on Tuesday.
The OIC is a grouping of 57 countries, majority of which are Muslim majority. It has usually been supportive of Pakistan and, often sided with Islamabad on the Kashmir issue. The Contact Group expressed deep concern over the heightened tension and called for immediate de-escalation in the region, Pakistan Foreign Office said.
A day earlier Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor told media that Islamabad would “definitely respond and surprise India”, following which the country initiated an unprovoked ceasefire violation by shelling with heavy calibre weapons in 12 to 15 places all along the LoC.
In the meantime, Pakistan has suspended internet services in the entire occupied Kashmir area, security agencies said.
In a synchronised operation, fighter and other aircraft took off from several air bases in Western and Central commands at about the same time, leaving Pakistani defence officials confused about where they were heading, they said.
A small group of aircraft broke away from the swarm and headed to Balakot. The entire operation, it is learnt, was over in 20 minutes, starting at 3.45 am and ending at 4.05 am. The actual bombing took less than two minutes.
“In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated,” Gokhale said, stressing that care was taken to avoid civilian casualties.
The facility at Balakot, located in a thick forest on a hilltop far from civilian presence, was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar, alias Ustad Ghouri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, he said. The statement did not say if Yousuf Azhar was among those killed.
The JeM has been active in Pakistan for the last two decades and has its headquarters in Bahawalpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province, he said in the statement.
The organisation is proscribed by the UN and has been responsible for a series of terrorist attacks, including on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 and the Pathankot airbase in January 2016.
