Tag: Balakot airstrikes

  • Abhinandan sees no reason for Pak-India hostilities to continue in unseen video

    Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Abhinandan — who was briefly captured after his aircraft was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilot — has said he saw “no reason for us to continue with any kind of hostilities”.

    “I see no reason for us to continue with any kind of hostilities,” Abhinandan said in a video message. “I do not know what we should do to achieve peace but I only know that there should be peace,” he added.

    During the video, Abhinandan said that neither he nor the Pakistanis know “what is happening to a Kashmiri”. “We must think with calm heads,” said the pilot.

    “I saw both countries when I was coming down on a parachute, and I could not differentiate between the two countries from above,” the pilot said, adding that he sees no differences between the two countries.

    “When I fell down I did not know whether I was in Pakistan or my own country India. To me, both countries looked the same, the people looked the same as well,” the pilot said in the video.

    Speaking about his crash, he said he was badly injured when he was ejected from the plane. The pilot said that he was badly injured when he ejected from his aircraft and once he landed he was not able to move. He added that after landing, he tried finding out which country he was in.

    “When it looked to me that I was not in my country, I tried running,” says the Indian pilot, adding that a “charged” crowd tried capturing him as well but he was saved by the Pakistan Army.

  • VIDEO: Indian media apologises for airing doctored video of Pakistani analyst on Balakot airstrike

    VIDEO: Indian media apologises for airing doctored video of Pakistani analyst on Balakot airstrike

    Media outlets from across the border, including India Today and NDTV, have apologised for airing a doctored video of Pakistani analyst and former diplomat Zafar Hilaly, wherein due to editing, he appeared to be supporting Indian claims of hundreds of casualties in the 2018 cross-border aggression by New Delhi.

    Several Indian television channels, newspapers and websites had carried the report by news agency ANI on Hilaly’s remarks that he made while speaking to a Pakistani media outlet over Indian claims of 300 terrorists dying in the Balakot airstrike on February 26, 2019.

    Besides ANI, India Today and NDTV, the story was reported by Republic, The Times of India, Moneycontrol, WION, Hindustan Times, NE Now, Odisha TV, Jagran, Swarajya, Lokmat, Oneindia, Deccan Herald, Business Today, Livemint, DNA, The Quint, News18 India, HW News, CNBC TV18 and ABP News among others.

    One of the reports said, “The admission by the former Pakistani diplomat, who regularly takes the Pakistan army side in TV debates, goes against the zero casualties claim made by Islamabad at that time.”

    Here’s how India Today reported the same:

    “India crossed the international border and did an act of war in which at least 300 were reported dead. Our target was different from theirs. We targeted their high command. That was our legitimate target because they are men of the military. We subconsciously accepted that a surgical strike — a limited action — did not result in any casualty. Now we have subconsciously told them that, whatever they will do, we’ll do only that much and won’t escalate,” ANI had quoted Hilaly as saying.

    But a fact-check by Alt News found that the comments were misreported. Hilaly also tweeted a video saying his statement was spliced and edited.

    In the debate posted on YouTube by HUM News as part of a programme called “Agenda Pakistan”, Hilaly had actually said, “What you did, India, was an act of war. By crossing the international boundary, India committed an act of war in which they intended to kill at least 300 people.”

    While the report has since been retracted by all outlets, here’s what India Today tweeted.

    BALAKOT AIRSTRIKE:

    The 2019 Balakot airstrike was conducted by India in the early morning hours of February 27 when Indian warplanes crossed the de facto border in the disputed region of Kashmir, and dropped bombs in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in Pakistan.

    While India claimed having destroyed terror camps “established on the Pakistani side” with hundreds of terrorists dead, Pakistan had rebutted the claims and sent a group of both local and foreign journalists to the area to ascertain the facts by themselves.

    The episode had led to tensions running high between the two countries for months and embarrassment for India after Pakistan shot down one of its intruding fighter jets besides capturing an Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot.

    What do you think of the yet another rather embarrassing moment for Indian media? Let The Current know in the comments…

  • PML-N stands by Ayaz Sadiq’s ‘unforgivable offence’

    PML-N stands by Ayaz Sadiq’s ‘unforgivable offence’

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to stand by its party leader Ayaz Sadiq over a controversial statement pertaining to Indian pilot Abhinandan’s release, saying Sadiq was being targetted to settle political scores.

    In separate statements, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal and Rana Sanaullah defended the former National Assembly speaker and said the government was blowing his remarks out of proportion. The statement came a day after the government spokesperson accused Sadiq of committing an “unforgivable offence”.

    PML-N General Secretary Ahsan Iqbal said that there was nothing illogical about Ayaz’s statement, explaining that “a weak economy translates into a weak defence”. “Accumulative national strength is reliant to an extent on armed forces and to a larger extent on its economic and foreign policy depth.”

    Meanwhile, Sanaullah, who heads the party’s Punjab chapter, said the government’s attempts to link the statement with the Indian narrative were problematic.

    “If Ayaz Sadiq’s choice of words was not right, where was the National Assembly speaker? The government is linking the opposition’s statements with the Indian narrative,” he remarked. The situation will get out of control if things continue in the same manner, he warned.

    Meanwhile, at least two complaints were registered against the PML-N leader for issuing a controversial statement on the floor of the National Assembly. These complaints were lodged at the Civil Lines police station, Lahore, and Secretariat police station, Islamabad.

    The complainants accused the lawmaker of “hurting the sentiments of the nation” and malign Pakistan on a global level.

    Dunya News reported that the complainants were forwarded to the legal departments of the police for consultation and action would be taken accordingly.

    On Friday, Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz hinted at legal action against Ayaz Sadiq for accusing the government of releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of the Indian Air Force (IAF) under pressure. “What Ayaz Sadiq said is not forgivable,” he tweeted, adding that law will take its course now.