Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "2019 Balakot airstrike" in English language version.
By way of response, Modi ordered air strikes to be conducted on Pakistani territory. A Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp was allegedly destroyed in Balakot.
In the operation, the Indian Air Force lost a plane and a pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman (who would eventually be returned to India and came back as a hero)
... mistakenly shot down one of its own helicopters, killing six airmen. Despite the mixed results of these air strikes, Modi managed to portray himself as India's protector in a campaign dominated by nationalist and even warmongering rhetoric – largely because the fact that six airmen had died was hardly reported by the media.
Modi managed to portray himself as India's protector in a campaign dominated by nationalist and even warmongering rhetoric – largely because the fact that six airmen had died was hardly reported by the media.
With a tough election cycle approaching, India's BJP-led government faced pressure from its supporters to take forceful action. Days later India sent fighter jets across Kashmir's line of control for the first time in five decades and later claimed to have conducted air strikes against the militant group's largest training camp.
Days later India sent fighter jets across Kashmir's line of control for the first time in five decades and later claimed to have conducted air strikes against the militant group's largest training camp. Pakistan denied the claim, saying that the jets had struck an empty field. The next day, Pakistan shot down two Indian jets in its airspace and captured a pilot.
Ten days after these comments, on 26 February, Modi gave the order for air strikes against alleged JeM facilities. Significantly, the target – near the town of Balakot – was not in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, but in Pakistan proper. … There the Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed a madrassa New Delhi claimed was a terrorist training camp associated with the JeM. The attack was acclaimed a success by the IAF, which claimed that several buildings were destroyed and up to 300 militants killed, but independent analysts suggest that it actually failed, with the missiles falling in nearby woods, rather than on their intended target (Ruser, 2019).
The Modi government's public mischaracterizations of the February 2019 Balakot airstrike and subsequent air skirmishes, including subsequently debunked claims of a destroyed terrorist camp inside Pakistan and India's downing of a Pakistani F-16 jet, have already raised questions in the United States about New Delhi's credibility and communications strategy in the midst of an exceptionally dangerous regional context.<Footnote 80:Sameer Lalwani and Emily Tallo, "Did India Shoot Down a Pakistani F-16 in February? This Just Became a Big Deal," Washington Post, April 17, 2019>
The following day Pakistan's Air Force sent some of its aircraft towards the LoC, enticing the IAF to pursue them. In the ensuing dogfight, an IAF MiG-21 was shot down and its pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, captured by Pakistani forces. In the confusion, there was more bad news for India, with an IAF Mi-17 helicopter accidentally shot down by friendly fire, killing seven
India's claim that one of its fighter pilots shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in an aerial battle between the two nuclear powers in February appears to be wrong. Two senior U.S. defense officials with direct knowledge of the situation told Foreign Policy that U.S. personnel recently counted Islamabad's F-16s and found none missing. The findings directly contradict the account of Indian Air Force officials, who said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman managed to shoot down a Pakistani F-16 before his own plane was downed by a Pakistani missile.
On Wednesday, Pakistan mobilized its air force and shot down an Indian fighter jet above Kashmir, capturing the pilot. On Friday, Pakistan released the pilot, Wing Cmdr. Abhinandan Varthaman, calling it a gesture to ease tensions.
Ten days after these comments, on 26 February, Modi gave the order for air strikes against alleged JeM facilities. Significantly, the target – near the town of Balakot – was not in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, but in Pakistan proper. … There the Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed a madrassa New Delhi claimed was a terrorist training camp associated with the JeM. The attack was acclaimed a success by the IAF, which claimed that several buildings were destroyed and up to 300 militants killed, but independent analysts suggest that it actually failed, with the missiles falling in nearby woods, rather than on their intended target (Ruser, 2019).
The Modi government's public mischaracterizations of the February 2019 Balakot airstrike and subsequent air skirmishes, including subsequently debunked claims of a destroyed terrorist camp inside Pakistan and India's downing of a Pakistani F-16 jet, have already raised questions in the United States about New Delhi's credibility and communications strategy in the midst of an exceptionally dangerous regional context.<Footnote 80:Sameer Lalwani and Emily Tallo, "Did India Shoot Down a Pakistani F-16 in February? This Just Became a Big Deal," Washington Post, April 17, 2019>
The following day Pakistan's Air Force sent some of its aircraft towards the LoC, enticing the IAF to pursue them. In the ensuing dogfight, an IAF MiG-21 was shot down and its pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, captured by Pakistani forces. In the confusion, there was more bad news for India, with an IAF Mi-17 helicopter accidentally shot down by friendly fire, killing seven
The Indian Air Force confirmed for the first time on Friday, October 4 that it shot down one of its own Mi-17 helicopters during clashes with Pakistan in February over Kashmir, killing all six on board.
But these latest details about the India-Pakistan air battles threaten to discredit the BJP narrative and undermine its electoral prospects. Open-source satellite imagery revealed India did not hit any targets of consequence in the airstrikes it conducted after the terrorist attack on the paramilitaries. Additionally, reporting indicates that during the Feb. 27 air battle, friendly fire from an air-defense missile brought down an Indian military helicopter, killing six military personnel.
Controversy flared up when a Foreign Policy article stated that the Pentagon had accounted for all of Pakistan's F-16 jets. This report, based on anonymous statements by two U.S. Defense Department officials, contradicted the Indian Air Force's (IAF) narrative of the dogfight. The IAF claims an Indian pilot shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter plane before a Pakistani missile took down his own third-generation MiG-21 warplane. The IAF responded last week by releasing "irrefutable" evidence — including electronic signatures and radio transcripts — that Pakistan lost a fighter jet during the February aerial combat. A number of U.S. and Indian defense analysts called the evidence circumstantial.
Debates involving professional scholars and amateur social media sleuths, using satellite imagery and supposed video evidence, went on for months without definitive resolution, but April articles in Foreign Policy and the Washington Post cast serious doubt on the India's claims about both the training camp destruction and the downed F-16.
