NEW DELHI: The US is reportedly investigating “the potential misuse of American-made F-16 fighter jets by Pakistan by using them against India in violation of the end-user agreement.”
Despite growing evidence, Pakistan on Saturday continued to studiously deny that a Pakistan Air Force F-16 had been shot down over Occupied Kashmir during the dogfight with an Indian MiG-21 after violating Indian airspace on the morning of February 27. A MiG flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was also shot down, and he was captured after he ejected and landed in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
A PTI report from Washington quoted a US State Department official as saying that it was seeking more information from Pakistan on the potential misuse of F-16s by it against India in violation of the end-user agreement. On Friday, the IAF had displayed parts of an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, which only the F-16s can carry, to prove that Pakistan had deployed the airplane over Indian airspace.
Early Saturday, senior Pakistani bureaucrat Danyal Gilani had to quickly delete a tweet which claimed that Lockheed Martin, the US aerospace major which makes the iconic F-16, was planning to sue India for claiming that its aircraft had been shot down, because “all F-16s on Pakistani inventory are well counted.(sic).”
In a terse tweet, Lockheed Martin India said that it “has made no such comments”.
While acknowledging that statement was “wrongly attributed” to Lockheed Martin, Gilani, however, said that “I stand by Govt of #India’s failure to prove it downed a #Pakistani F-16. Indian media & journalists have caught #Indian govt disinformation.”
While the nuclear neighbour is yet to acknowledge the use of F-16s against India, Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain gave out a belligerent response.
He said, “We purchased them from America and didn’t get them in a grant. So we’ll decide where to deploy them. F-16 jets will be used for the purpose for which they are needed. But Insha’Allah, we hope that situation doesn’t arise”.