India Pakistan: Kashmir fighting sees Indian aircr
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Posted On: 02/27/2019 8:12:41 AM
India Pakistan: Kashmir fighting sees Indian aircraft downed
Pakistan says it has shot down two Indian military jets and captured two pilots in a major escalation between the nuclear powers over Kashmir.
India says it lost one MiG21 fighter and a pilot was missing in action.
Pakistani PM Imran Khan said the two sides could not afford a miscalculation with the weapons they had.
India and Pakistan - both nuclear-armed states - claim all of Kashmir, but control only parts of it.
They have fought three wars since independence from Britain and partition in 1947. All but one were over Kashmir.
The aerial attacks across the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Indian and Pakistani territory are the first since a war in 1971.
They follow a militant attack in Kashmir which killed 40 Indian troops - the deadliest to take place during a three-decade insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir. A Pakistan-based group said it carried out the attack.
What do we know about the situation?
Pakistan's information ministry published but subsequently deleted a video purporting to show one of the Indian pilots that the Pakistani military says it has captured.
In the video, the pilot - who is blindfolded and appears to have blood on his face - identifies himself as Wing-Commander Abhinandan.
The ministry also tweeted what it said was footage of one of the downed Indian jets.
Video: https://twitter.com/MoIB_Official/status/1100651537532157952
In India, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumar acknowledged the loss of a jet and its pilot.
He also said that an Indian plane had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet and Indian ground forces observed it falling on the Pakistani side of the LoC. Pakistan has denied any of its jets had been hit.
How are India and Pakistan reacting?
In a televised address, Prime Minister Khan offered India talks over terrorism and warned against further escalation.
"If we let it happen, it will remain neither in my nor Narendra Modi's control," he said.
"Our action is just to let them know that just like they intruded into our territory, we are also capable of going into their territory," he added.
Mr Modi has yet to comment but was meeting top security and intelligence officials to discuss the situation, reports in India said.
Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said her country would act "with responsibility and restraint".
"India does not wish to see further escalation of the situation," she said, speaking from a meeting with Russian and Chinese foreign ministers in China.
What about the earlier air strikes?
Pakistan's assertion that it had shot down two Indian aircraft came shortly after Islamabad said its warplanes had struck targets in Indian territory.
Indian authorities said the Pakistani jets had been forced to withdraw.
Pakistan's military spokesman Maj Gen Ghafoor said jets had "engaged" six targets in Indian territory but then carried out air strikes on "open ground".
"We don't want to go on the path of war," he said.
India said Tuesday's air strikes on Balakot in north-western Pakistan killed a large number of militants, but Pakistan said there had been no casualties.
The US, EU and China have all called for restraint.
'These are uncharted waters'
By Soutik Biswas, BBC News, Delhi
The challenge for India and Pakistan now is to contain the escalation before things get completely out of control.
It is almost unprecedented for two nuclear-armed countries to carry out air strikes into each other's territories.
"We are in uncharted waters," Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani ambassador to the US and adviser to three Pakistani prime ministers, told me late on Tuesday.
An Indian defense analyst believes Indian security forces will now have to be prepared for a "full spectrum of conflict".
However Daniel Markey from Johns Hopkins University in the US says we are "several steps away" from nuclear escalation.
A further escalation, he believes, will happen if Pakistan's "next step were to raise the stakes by hitting Indian civilian targets".
That is highly unlikely.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47382949
Indians celebrated on hearing news of the strikes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47382949
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47383634
Pakistan says it has shot down two Indian military jets and captured two pilots in a major escalation between the nuclear powers over Kashmir.
India says it lost one MiG21 fighter and a pilot was missing in action.
Pakistani PM Imran Khan said the two sides could not afford a miscalculation with the weapons they had.
India and Pakistan - both nuclear-armed states - claim all of Kashmir, but control only parts of it.
They have fought three wars since independence from Britain and partition in 1947. All but one were over Kashmir.
The aerial attacks across the Line of Control (LoC) dividing Indian and Pakistani territory are the first since a war in 1971.
They follow a militant attack in Kashmir which killed 40 Indian troops - the deadliest to take place during a three-decade insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir. A Pakistan-based group said it carried out the attack.
What do we know about the situation?
Pakistan's information ministry published but subsequently deleted a video purporting to show one of the Indian pilots that the Pakistani military says it has captured.
In the video, the pilot - who is blindfolded and appears to have blood on his face - identifies himself as Wing-Commander Abhinandan.
The ministry also tweeted what it said was footage of one of the downed Indian jets.
Video: https://twitter.com/MoIB_Official/status/1100651537532157952
In India, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumar acknowledged the loss of a jet and its pilot.
He also said that an Indian plane had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet and Indian ground forces observed it falling on the Pakistani side of the LoC. Pakistan has denied any of its jets had been hit.
How are India and Pakistan reacting?
In a televised address, Prime Minister Khan offered India talks over terrorism and warned against further escalation.
"If we let it happen, it will remain neither in my nor Narendra Modi's control," he said.
"Our action is just to let them know that just like they intruded into our territory, we are also capable of going into their territory," he added.
Mr Modi has yet to comment but was meeting top security and intelligence officials to discuss the situation, reports in India said.
Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said her country would act "with responsibility and restraint".
"India does not wish to see further escalation of the situation," she said, speaking from a meeting with Russian and Chinese foreign ministers in China.
What about the earlier air strikes?
Pakistan's assertion that it had shot down two Indian aircraft came shortly after Islamabad said its warplanes had struck targets in Indian territory.
Indian authorities said the Pakistani jets had been forced to withdraw.
Pakistan's military spokesman Maj Gen Ghafoor said jets had "engaged" six targets in Indian territory but then carried out air strikes on "open ground".
"We don't want to go on the path of war," he said.
India said Tuesday's air strikes on Balakot in north-western Pakistan killed a large number of militants, but Pakistan said there had been no casualties.
The US, EU and China have all called for restraint.
'These are uncharted waters'
By Soutik Biswas, BBC News, Delhi
The challenge for India and Pakistan now is to contain the escalation before things get completely out of control.
It is almost unprecedented for two nuclear-armed countries to carry out air strikes into each other's territories.
"We are in uncharted waters," Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani ambassador to the US and adviser to three Pakistani prime ministers, told me late on Tuesday.
An Indian defense analyst believes Indian security forces will now have to be prepared for a "full spectrum of conflict".
However Daniel Markey from Johns Hopkins University in the US says we are "several steps away" from nuclear escalation.
A further escalation, he believes, will happen if Pakistan's "next step were to raise the stakes by hitting Indian civilian targets".
That is highly unlikely.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47382949
Indians celebrated on hearing news of the strikes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47382949
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47383634
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