KABUL — Pakistan said it shot down two Indian aircraft from inside its airspace Wednesday and launched strikes inside Indian-controlled Kashmir, one day after India sent jets into Pakistani territory for the first time since 1971 and dropped bombs there.
The tit-for-tat aerial strikes marked the first serious military escalation between the two nuclear-armed rivals in two decades, although it did not immediately appear that either attack had caused any casualties. Both countries claim the Himalayan Kashmir region, which is divided by a militarized “Line of Control.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said its air force strikes were aimed at “non-military targets” to avoid human loss and damage, and that their sole purpose was to “demonstrate our right, will and capability for self-defense.” It said Pakistan has “no intention of escalation, but we are fully prepared to do so if forced.”
Pakistan’s military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, wrote on Twitter that two Indian fighter jets “crossed into Pakistani territory and were shot down” Wednesday in response to Pakistan’s strikes. He said one Indian plane had fallen in Indian-controlled territory, and that the other in a Pakistan-controlled area.
Two Indian pilots have been arrested by Pakistani troops.
Officials in both countries claimed they did not seek to escalate the long-running tensions between them, but a mood of belligerent triumph spread across Pakistani news stations and online Wednesday. War songs were played, commentators praised the Pakistan military and shouts of “God is greatest” could be heard. Images of an Indian plane with burning debris were showed repeatedly.
[India and Pakistan may not go to war. But there’s trouble ahead.]
The tension erupted in the wake of a terrorist bombing Feb. 14 inside Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary troops. It was the deadliest attack in 30 years of conflict and protests, and it was claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed. Pakistan denied any link to the attack and Prime Minister Imran Khan pledged to investigate if India presented credible evidence of Pakistani involvement.
On Tuesday, India claimed that its bombing had been aimed at a training camp operated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, and had killed scores of people there in retaliation for the Kashmir attack. But Pakistan maintained the Indian bombs had fallen on a vacant rural area with no loss of life and promised to take journalists to see the site.
In its statement Wednesday, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said that if India “is striking at so called terrorist backers without a shred of evidence, we also retain reciprocal rights to retaliate against elements that enjoy Indian patronage while carrying out acts of terror in Pakistan. We do not wish to go to that route and wish that India gives peace a chance [to] resolve issues like a mature democratic nation.”
Spokesmen for India’s Defence Ministry and Air Force said they had no information on the strikes.
Commercial flights to and from cities in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir and the neighboring state of Punjab were suspended. Vistara, an Indian airline, wrote that “due to airspace restrictions,” flights in the cities of Srinagar, Jammu, Amritsar and Chandigarh were on hold.
Slater reported from New Delhi. Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistan-says-it-has-shot-down-two-indian-jets-in-its-airspace/2019/02/27/054461a2-3a5b-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html
2019-02-27 07:17:30Z
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