By Muhammad Luqman
Just a day after Indian fighter jets intruded into its airspace, Pakistan shot two Indian fighter jets down in disputed Kashmir region on Wednesday.
“In response to PAF strikes this morning as released by MoFA, IAF crossed LOC. PAF shot down two Indian aircrafts inside Pakistani airspace. One of the aircraft fell inside AJ&K while other fell inside IOK. One Indian pilot arrested by troops on ground while two in the area,” Director General of media wing of Pakistan’s armed forces, Maj. General Asif Ghafoor said in a tweet.
The military spokesperson added that two Indian pilots were arrested by the Pakistani troops on ground .
He also rejected the Indian claim of downing Pakistan’s F-16 aircraft, saying that Pakistan had not used any F-16 plane in downing the Indian planes.
Indian media has earlier reported that two pilots were killed when a Mig 21 plane crashed in Occupied Kashmir’s Budgam District.
The surprise move came a day after Indian jets intruded into Pakistani airspace and claimed to have attacked a militant camp.
On Tuesday, General Asif Ghafoor while rubbishing the claims of Indians that their aircraft stayed in Pakistan’s airspace for 21 minutes and killed 350 terrorists asked the adversary to get ready for response.
“The formation of the Indian aircraft crossed the LoC by four to five nautical miles which was timely and effectively challenged and repulsed by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF),” he said, adding after dropping the payload of four bombs in a haste, they went back under pressure from the PAF aircraft. “It is time for India to get response for which time place will be chosen by us and the response may be in any domain,” Major General Asif Ghafoor said at a news briefing on Tuesday, maintaining that the response would come and it would come differently.
Pakistan’s foreign office has also confirmed the downing of two Indian fighter planes by Pakistan Air Force.
“Today, Pakistan Air Force undertook strikes across Line of Control from within Pakistani airspace. This was not a retaliation to continued Indian belligerence,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Dr. Muhammad Faisal tweeted.
He said that Pakistan had no intention of escalation, but was fully prepared to do so if forced into that paradigm. T
“That is why we undertook the action with clear warning and in broad daylight. For the last few years, India has been trying to establish what they call “a new normal” a thinly veiled term for doing acts of aggression at whatever pretext they wish on a given day,” Dr. Muhammad Faisal said.
