ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ability to protect its territory was clearly demonstrated last year in February when its air force downed an Indian fighter jet and captured the pilot, said the country’s foreign office on Monday.
“I think Indians should also remember the swift and effective response that the misadventure of Indian forces received in February 2019 from Pakistan,” Spokesperson Ayesha Farooqui told Arab News in response to a query. “Our capability and our resolve was clearly demonstrated.”
The foreign office spokesperson was reacting to a statement made earlier in the day by India’s Home Minister Amit Shah who mentioned New Delhi’s decision to launch an airstrike inside Pakistan after a suicide attack in Pulwama by a 22-year-old disgruntled Kashmiri man on February 14, 2019, who killed 40 Indian paramilitary troops, saying: “The world was made to realize that encroaching upon India’s borders is not a child’s play. Punishment is meted out here.”
Shah, who was addressing a virtual rally, added: “Some used to say that US and Israel were the only countries which were willing and capable of avenging every drop of the blood of their soldiers. [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi has added India to that list.”
New Delhi held Islamabad responsible for the attack in Pulwama, a district in Indian-administered Kashmir, saying that Jaish-e-Mohammed, a proscribed militant entity in Pakistan, had taken its responsibility.
On February 26, the Pakistan Army announced that Indian warplanes had breached its airspace in the disputed Kashmir region, though they were soon chased out by the air force after the enemy planes jettisoned their payload in an uninhabited area near Balakot.
However, India claimed it had made a surgical strike and destroyed a “militant training camp” in the region, killing several people.
Pakistan subsequently took local and international journalists to Balakot to negate New Delhi’s narrative.
Amit Shah’s statement comes at a time when India’s Hindu nationalist government finds itself under pressure due to a standoff in Ladakh where its army is facing the Chinese military.
The foreign office spokesperson’s comment made a subtle reference to an aerial dogfight over Kashmir on February 27 in which the country's air force shot down at least one Indian fighter jet and captured its pilot who was later released as a “goodwill gesture” on March 1.
