Pakistani
nation is celebrated 27th Feb
as Surprise day to mark last year Air Skirmish between India and Pakistan on
LoC. This day is important because it revealed Indian power bluff and also
proved PAF’s concepts and capabilities.
Indian leadership achieved political
benefit from Balakot strike on 26th but Pakistan responded and
achieved strategically
On
26th Feb 2019, Indian Air Force violated Pakistani Airspace and
dropped bombs in forest area of Balakot on pretext of surgical strike against
Jaish e Muhammad which according to India was behind Pulwama attack which
killed scores of Indian soldiers in IOK on 14 Feb 2019.
IAF
named this so called surgical strike as Operation Bander. 12 Mirage 2000
fighters took part in this operation. IAF and Indian media claimed that Indian
jets stayed in Pakistani territory for 21 minutes and killed around 350 militants.
On
same day DG ISPR Major Gen. Asif Ghafoor in his press briefing negated all the Indian
claims and promised retaliation.
"I said three things: You will never be able to surprise us. We have not been surprised. We were ready, we responded, we denied. I said we will retain the escalation ladder. We have that initiative in our hand," he said
Answer to Operation Bander was necessary
and in order to avoid a large conflict it was very important to climb
escalation ladder because if Pakistan had failed it would have destroyed
credibility of Pakistan’s nuclear Deterrence as it was first Indian strike in
area with in main land Pakistan after 1971 war and any weakness would have
given wrong signals to enemy.
On
February 27, Pakistani planes struck Indian positions across the LoC. This
skirmish resulted in an air battle in which the PAF shot down two Indian
planes. A MIG-21 was shot down by PAF JF17 Thunder, which fell on the Pakistani
side, whereas the other IAF SU 30 fell inside India.
Plan was of two phases.
1. Pakistani Strike near important Indian
military targets on LoC for signaling to India that remain in your limit we don’t
want escalation but if India want next time PAF will hit the targets and Indian
forces will suffer a lot.
2. Ensuring IAF fighters enter the
ambush laid by PAF for enemy planes responding to PAF strike and ensuring
maximum damage to Jets.
According to Col
Pravin Sawhney, Chief Editor Force Magazine in his talk in Military literature
festival 2019 held at Chandigarh “ PAF
was in full control on 27th Feb. They dropped ordinance in thickly populated and militarized area, ensuring no damage
to lives and signalling that they have capacity and capability to inflict punishment but Pakistan dont want escalation but is ready for what India choose ”
Around PAF counter strike Indians
shot their own helicopter killing all on board mistaking it as Pakistani helicopter.
Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman was arrested, but after two days returned as
a gesture of Pakistan’s goodwill.
On February 28, New Delhi again threaten Pakistan. This time Indian Security
Advisor Ajit Doval threatened to fire 6 missiles on Pakistani targets. Upon
which, Pakistan responded by telling New Delhi that “whatever India will do, Pakistan
will respond three times to that.”
After
the initial bravado by Indian Armed forces and media, things started getting clear.
IAF attack on Balakot and claim of hundreds of casualties turned out to be joke.
International experts with help of satellite pictures proved that IAF failed to
inflict any damage and in fear of PAF ran back dropping munitions in jungle.
IAF
Chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa in his talk at army literature festival 2019
admitted that IAF was lacking operational data-link (ODL). Indian Military which claims to be network enabled and talk big
about “Cold Start Doctrine” failed to display basic network centric capabilities.
Dhanoa also admitted technological superiority of PAF.
Colonel
Pravin Sawhney, revealed at festival that IAF Su 30’s came back to their bases
without facing Pakistan Air Force because they were blinded and their sensors
were blocked by better Pakistani counter electronic
measures.
India’s claim of shooting F-16 by MIG 21 also became joke of the year. U.S.
scholar and academic Christine Fair although know and staunch enemy of Pakistan
refuted Indian version in front of senior Indian Military officers by saying
They LACK INTEGRITY
Swift
retort had strategic effects. It preserved Pakistan’s credible nuclear deterrence
and also the respect and honor of the nation.It revealed Indian power bluff and exposed it badly. In
words of editor force magazine,
“A senior US diplomat told me after Balakot there is skepticism in
US circles if for 30 years they backed the wrong horse”