DESPARDES — This week, Pakistan’s civil-military announced India is looking to do a “false flag” and “military op” against its western neighbor as a “Go To” option.
A somewhat similar move was made last year in February 2019 post-Pulwama incident in Indian-administered Kashmir, which Pakistan had said was a false flag.
Subsequently, Indian Air Force (IAF) crossed the border with fighter planes, and Pakistan’s Air Force (PAF) responded (it had predicted then India would do so) — three or more surprises Pakistan pulled that day, observers say.
The “how this all played out up miles high” was made available in the global village weeks later then — many took it with a grain of salt, and many nodded — depending on how keen an observer was sans a tilt.
A Defense Bangladesh Forum made comments on the video (when was it done remains unknown), with English translation at the bottom. Not an endorsement or otherwise, still, academically the clip is of interest even now.
PAF had laid the claim that it had two hits against IAF that day: 1 SU 30 MKI (Russian made) and 1 MiG 21 Bison (French made).
The MiG bird fell inside Pakistani territory with its pilot while the SU 30 fell inside Indian-administered Kashmir –with people reportedly seeing two parachutes descending from the sky.
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The MiG pilot Abhinandan — was captured — he had survived the hit to his bird.
Indians deny losing the SU 30, and in turn, claims the Abhinandan shot down a PAF F-16 (American-made) before being shot. Pakistan rubbishes the claim and the Americans did not comment — a boiler plate agreement exists between PAF and US on F-16 rules of engagement.
On being asked to comment, a senior Pakistani military official tells DesPardes that “all 4 missiles from Abhinandan’s MiG were recovered and are on display at PAF museum” in Karachi. “It’s a lie” that a F-16 was downed, he says.
The prestigious BD forum must have studied and analyzed the video and reports, etc. before it converted it in its national language Bengali.
Dhonnobad (Thank You) says a dual national (Pakistani-American) who lived in former East Pakistan for more than a decade — and now in Islamabad.
According to him, the voiceover in Bengali is “significant and meaningful” given Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindutva battlecry in the region.
Bangladesh — overwhelming majority of its population is Muslim like Pakistan, has traditionally been close to Delhi.
Some observers commenting on the video, had earlier said Pakistan’s thought-leaders pulled three surprises that fateful day — new “weaponry” was used to handle the ongoing blow hot and blow cold affairs with its eastern neighbor India on disputed Kashmir.
Counter attack that day in broad daylight — around 9AM — was one of them. Second was the return of the captured MiG pilot as peace overture — in a gesture that was meant to demonstrate that Pakistan wants peace not war with its neighbor India, and in the broader region.
Bajwa Doctrine of “enduring stability” in the region was battle-tested. A collateral was (in a first) the battle-testing of Pak-China made JF-17 Thunder.
Post script: PAF boys penetrated, locked in some hot targets, and delivered loads so up, close to “raise the heckles out of the top Indian brass” that day. There were no casualties except smiles and frowns.
Two happy campers (Pakistan and China), and a grim reaper (India) was the takeaway in broader terms, these observers say. And how have the Bangladeshis looked at the sky battle? “I would say on a scale of ten, 7 or 8”, says an independent observer.
Pakistan and India back in December 1971 went to war over latter’s foray into former’s half (East Pakistan). Bangladesh was formed.
