US deals a blow to Modi and Sitharaman’s post- Balakot version

Less than a month after Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed to even know the name of the Pakistani pilot whose F-16 fighter plane was shot down by IAF’s Abhinandan Varthaman, US Defence sources have confirmed that all the F-16 planes supplied to Pakistan have been accounted for on the ground.

Pakistan had invited the US officials to do the counting after India claimed to have downed a F-16. On March 13, Sitharaman was quoted in the media as saying, “ India is aware of the identity of the pilot of the Pakistani F-16 fighter jet, which was shot down by Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman,” . She went on to claim that the Pakistani pilot was beaten to death by villagers in Pakistan who mistook him for an Indian pilot.

The fresh confirmation by US Defence has dealt a blow to PM Modi’s chest-thumping claims on India’s strike at Balakot and the claim to have downed a F-16.

The facts are :

• India lost a jet which was downed.
• The IAF pilot was captured and paraded before camera by Pakistan
• India has been able to produce no evidence to show any damage at Balakot or killed terrorists
• India lost a chopper with six IAF personnel amidst suspicion that it crashed due to technical faults or was mistakenly hit by a missile from the ground.

Prestigious US publication Foreign Policy reported on Thursday that a physical count on the ground by US Defence supported the Pakistani version that no F-16 was downed in the post-Balakot skirmish between PAF and IAF in the air.

“It is possible that in the heat of combat, Varthaman, flying a vintage MiG-21 Bison, got a lock on the Pakistani F-16, fired, and genuinely believed he scored a hit. But the count, conducted by U.S. authorities on the ground in Pakistan, sheds doubt on New Delhi’s version of events, suggesting that Indian authorities may have misled the international community about what happened that day,” the publication reported.

Vipin Narang, Associate professor of political science at MIT, said the way the events have unfolded may affect India’s efforts to deter Pakistan in the future.

“As details come out, it looks worse and worse for the Indians,” Narang said. “It looks increasingly like India failed to impose significant costs on Pakistan, but lost a plane and a helicopter of its own in the process.”