The government on Saturday came down heavily on Pakistan for not acting against terrorist groups operating on its soil and urged ‘Naya Pakistan’ to show some ‘Naya action’ against them.
“If Pakistan claims to be a ‘Naya Pakistan’ with ‘nayi soch’ then it should show ‘naya action’ against terrorist groups and cross border terrorism,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a media briefing,
The Indian Air Force’s pre-dawn air strike of February 26 achieved the intended objective. The air strike came in response after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in which at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed on February 14.
“Our non-military counter-terrorism strike achieved the desired objective. It has demonstrated our firm resolve to take decisive action against cross border terrorism,” Kumar said.
“On February 27, Pakistan, instead of taking action against terrorist groups on its soil, chose to escalate through an act of aggression by violating our air space and attempting, unsuccessfully, to target our military facilities. Their action was effectively thwarted by the alertness and readiness of our armed forces,” Kumar added.
Kumar further said, “We have been transparent and open in informing the media on February 27, itself that, in the process of defending our national sovereignty and territorial integrity, one Mig 21 Bison was lost in action and Wing Commander Abhinandan had to bail out and landed in Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan, however, continues to propagate a false narrative of the events of that day.
The ministry spokesperson also dared Pakistan to show a video recording of downing a second Indian aircraft with the international media, as claimed. He said Pakistan was pushing a false narrative about the entire sequence of events.
“If as Pakistan claims it has a video recording of the downing of a second Indian aircraft then why have they not shared the video with international media?” he said.
Kumar said, there are eye-witness accounts and electronic evidence that Pakistan deployed F-16 aircraft and that one F-16 was shot down by Wing Commander Abhinandan. Evidence of the use of AMRAAM Missile, which can only be deployed on the F-16 with Pakistan, has also been shown to the media.
“Pakistan should explain why it continues to deny that its F-16 aircraft has been shot down? We have asked the United States to also examine whether the use of F16 against India is in accordance with the terms and conditions of sale,” Kumar questioned.
“It is regrettable that Pakistan still continues to deny Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM)s own claim of taking ownership of the Pulwama attack,” Kumar said.
Kumar cited Pakistan Foreign Minister, who said ‘they (JeM) have not claimed responsibility of the attack, there is some confusion’, asking if Pakistan was defending Jaish or acting as its spokesperson.
Since the Pulwama terror attack, the international community has solidly stood with India in their condemnation of the attack as well as in asking Pakistan to take concrete action against terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan, he said.
