Tension in the air: IAF, PAF lose a jet each; pilot in Pakistan custody

NEW DELHI: An Indian pilot was captured by Pakistani forces after he bailed out during a virtual dogfight between fighter jets from the two countries along the volatile Line of Control on Wednesday morning, even as the rival armies continued to exchange heavy cross-border fire a day after India’s air strikes on a major JeM training camp at Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region.

The aerial skirmish began when three Pakistani fighters, out of a “fairly large formation” of over 10 F-16s, JF-17s and Mirage-5 attack jets, crossed the LoC in the Kalal area in Nowshera region of Rajouri district around 10.20 am. “The fighters came 6-7 km into our airspace,” a source said.


Pakistan claimed its fighters “locked on” to six Indian military targets, ranging from the brigade headquarters at Bhimber Gali to an ammunition dump at Narian, to demonstrate its “capability and resolve” but chose to drop bombs in open spaces to avoid any casualties.

The Indian government, however, asserted that IAF had “successfully foiled” an attempt by Pakistan to “target military installations” across the LoC by shooting down one of its jets — probably an F-16 — but also admitted it had lost a MiG-21 ‘Bison’ fighter and that one of the Indian pilots had gone “missing while in action”.

Pakistan said the pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was in its custody. It also released several videos, in one of which he was seen being assaulted by civilians upon landing in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after ejecting from his MiG-21.

India disputed Pakistan’s account that the latter’s jets could have hit Indian military assets but chose to spare them, and described PAF’s action as an unprovoked aggression that was thwarted by the scrambling of MiG-21s to intercept the Pakistani fighters. In the ensuing dogfight, one of the MiG-21s fired an R-73 missile to down a Pakistani fighter, while a MiG-21 was hit either by a missile fired by a Pakistani fighter or a surface-to-air missile.

Pakistan also claimed through the day — an assertion endorsed by Pakistani PM Imran Khan in his televised address — that it had another Indian pilot in custody, who was admitted in its military hospital due to injuries, after shooting down two IAF fighters in the aerial engagement. But it backtracked in the evening , saying it had “only one pilot in Pakistan army’s custody”, who was being treated as per “norms of military ethics”.

Indian authorities said Pakistan probably mistook the pilot of its fighter jet, which had been shot down, for one belonging to the IAF. “The downed Pakistani fighter was in all probability an F-16 but it cannot be conclusively ascertained. Our Army troops saw it falling from the sky towards the Lam-Khuretta area in PoK, with the pilot ejecting out. The Pakistan army probably saw two parachutes, one of the Pakistani pilot and the other of Varthaman, and thought two IAF pilots had been shot down,” a source said.

The heightened tensions in the morning led Pakistan to shut down its entire airspace, with India too temporarily closing civilian air traffic in its northern region. In the afternoon, India summoned the acting high commissioner of Pakistan to issue a strong demarche against the “unprovoked act of aggression by Pakistan”, including violation of Indian air space by PAF and targeting of Indian military posts.

“It was clearly conveyed that India reserves the right to take firm and decisive action to protect its national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity against any act of aggression or cross-border terrorism,” the ministry of external affairs said.

MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, flanked by assistant chief of air staff (operations) Air Vice Marshal R G K Kapoor, said India had informed about the counter-terrorism action it took on Tuesday against a training camp of JeM in Pakistan based on credible evidence that the terrorist outfit intended to launch more attacks.

“Against this counter-terrorism action, Pakistan has responded this morning by using its air force to target military installations on the Indian side. Due to our high state of readiness and alertness, Pakistan’s attempts were successfully foiled,” he added.