F-16 skirmish

Even a month and a half after the aerial combat in Jammu and Kashmir’s Nowshera sector, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is being forced to prove that it had shot down an F-16 fighter jet of Pakistan. This should have been done the very next day. The IAF showed images captured by an airborne warning and control system at a media briefing on Monday, reiterating that it had credible evidence that the Pakistan Air Force lost an F-16 during the skirmish in the skies on February 27. However, the IAF spokesperson hastened to add that due to ‘security and confidentiality concerns, we are restricting the information being shared in the public domain’. It is this lack of transparency that has given Pakistan a fresh opportunity to contest India’s claims.

Last week, the IAF had issued a statement on downing the F-16 after a leading American magazine reported that a US count of the F-16s with Pakistan had found that none was missing and all aircraft were ‘present and accounted for’. Soon, Pentagon issued a statement saying that it is not aware of any such audit of F-16 aircraft in Pakistan. Whatever Pakistan has said so far about the Balakot-related events has been taken with dollops of salt by the international community. Unfortunately, India’s credibility is at stake in view of its mishandling of the media. After the airstrike, Pakistan had claimed that no F-16 jets were used, forcing the IAF to display pieces of an AMRAAM missile to call the neighbour’s bluff. On April 1, Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor finally admitted that F-16s might have been used to hit Indian fighter jets during the dogfight.

The unsavoury, protracted controversy has eaten into the gains achieved by India through the Balakot operation. What’s made things worse are the selective leaks to a section of the media that is favourably inclined towards the government. The incontrovertible truth should have been made public weeks ago. The belated and half-hearted efforts to nail Pakistan’s lies are nothing but a disservice to the armed forces.