India has finally acknowledged the truth regarding the February 26 violation of Pakistani air space. On April 18, Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj told an election gathering that no Pakistani citizen or military official was killed during the air strike. The admission tends to corroborate Pakistan’s stance that there no militant training camp located in Balakot and that thre were no casualties. The Indian claim of shooting down a Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter jet during the February 27 dog fight has also been negated by a report in Foreign Policy magaine according to which US defence officials have verified that Pakistan’s F-16 fleet is intact.
Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, the Inter Services Public Relations director general, has noted that the truth has been revealed. Pakistan hopes, he has said, that one day truth regarding the 2016 surgical strikes and shooting down of two Indian Air Force jets by PAF and the Indian claim about shooting of a PAF F-16 jet will also be revealed. It’s always better late than never.
The Sushma Swaraj statement contradicts the official Indian announcement projecting the February 26 violation as a successful air strike in which a training camp of Jaish-e-Muhammad was destroyed and 350 militants were killed. India has been making such false claims against Pakistan irrespective of which party is leading the government.
General elections may have been one of the factors behind the debacle. Prime Minister Modi has been promoting war hysteria against Pakistan. BJP has always relied on spreading hatred against Pakistan during its election campaign to garner right wing extremist support
In the aftermath of February 14 suicide attack in Pulwama by a Kashmiri local, in which 44 Indian Central Police Reserve Force men were reportedly killed, India accused Pakistan of sponsoring the attack. On February 26 Indian jets violated Pakistan’s air space, ostensibly to target a JeM training camp, but were forced to retreat. The IAF jets only managed to jettison their payload. India then claimed to have hit the camp and killed 350 militants. The claim was questioned around the world. At a National Security Committee meeting held the same day, Prime Minister Imran Khan rejected the Indian claim.
Responding to Indian accusations following the Pulwama incident, Prime Minister Imran Khan had offered a joint investigation in his February 19 speech if India could provide authentic information regarding Pakistan’s involvement. It may be argued that India rejected Pakistan’s proposal out of a fear of exposing the falsehood.
On April 10, several foreign journalists, ambassadors and defence attaches of various countries visited Jabba, Balakot, where India claimed to have destroyed the militant camp. The visitors were allowed to interact with the locals. They were shown the bomb craters and learnt that the strike had not resulted in a loss of human lives or destruction of infrastructure.
The escalation brought Pakistan and India to the brink of a nuclear war. The situation was most tense when Pakistan struck back across the Line of Control (LoC) and two Indian were shot down by the PAF and an Indian pilot was captured. The pilot was later relesaed in a goodwill gesture meant to promote peace.
General elections may have been one of the factors behind the debacle. Prime Minister Modi has been promoting war hysteria against Pakistan. BJP has always relied on spreading hatred against Pakistan during its election campaign to garner right wing extremist support.
In this context, a test of an Anti-Satellite weapon on March 27 and the threats to use a hydroge bomb against Pakistan have been widely publicised.
In the wake of India’s warlike threats the danger of a nuclear conflict between two countries has become even more pronounced. India needs to understand that the stability of the South Asian region lies in the peaceful settlement of disputes.
The writer a research associate at the Strategic Vision Institute, Islamabad