Karachi/Mumbai: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan blamed India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for “whipping up war hysteria” over claims that India shot down a Pakistani F-16 during a standoff in February, saying the truth is always the best policy.
US-based Foreign Policy magazine, citing US officials, said all of Pakistan’s F-16 combat jets had been accounted for, contradicting an Indian Air Force (IAF) assessment that it had shot down one of the jets.
“The truth always prevails and is always the best policy,” Khan said in a tweet. “BJP’s attempt to win elections through whipping up war hysteria and false claims of downing a Pak F-16 has backfired with US Defence officials also confirming that no F-16 was missing from Pakistan’s fleet,” he wrote.
India and Pakistan engaged in an aerial battle over Kashmir a day after Indian jets crossed over into Pakistan to attack a camp of militants. An Indian jet was brought down during the fight and its pilot captured when he ejected on the Pakistani side of the border. He was later released.
India said it had shot down a Pakistani aircraft and the air force displayed pieces of a missile that it said had been fired by a Pakistani F-16 before it went down.
Details of the India-Pakistan air engagement have not been fully provided by either side.
Foreign Policy said in a report published Thursday that two US defence officials with direct knowledge of the matter said US personnel had done a count of Pakistan’s F-16s and found none missing.
The IAF, however, stuck to its stand Friday, saying that it had conclusive proof of shooting down a PAF F-16 February 27.
The success of Indian air strikes on a camp of the militant group in northwestern Pakistan has also been thrown into doubt after satellite images showed little sign of damage.
Pakistan closed its airspace amid the standoff but most commercial air traffic has since resumed and major airports have opened. Pakistan offered to open one air route Friday, an Indian government official said, without specifying details and declining to be named as the matter was not public.
Speaking to Reuters, BJP spokesman Bizay Sonkar Shastri said, “Firstly, their (Pakistan’s) habit of lying is no secret to the world. Secondly, this is absolutely clear that the roots of terrorism lie in Pakistan and terrorism is cultivated in Pakistan.”