Pakistan has announced that it has “shot down” two Indian planes inside its airspace, a spokesman for the army said on Twitter on Wednesday. One of the planes fell in Indian Kashmir and the other in Pakistani Kashmir.
The Pakistan announced that it had shot down two Indian planes and conducted “strikes” in the disputed region of Kashmir, after an Indian raid on its territory, let me tell you that both are nuclear powers .
Two Indian pilots arrested, according to Islamabad
“The air force has shot down two Indian planes in Pakistani airspace,” a spokesman for Pakistan’s army, General Asif Ghafoor, told reporters on Twitter.
One of the planes fell in Indian Kashmir and the other in Pakistani Kashmir, he said, and two Indian pilots were arrested, one of them was taken to the hospital.
Pakistani plane shot down, according to New Delhi
At a press briefing in New Delhi, Raveesh Kumar, spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry, said that “a fighter plane from the Pakistan Air Force was shot down by a MiG-21 Bison of India Air Force .
According to this Indian spokesman, “the Pakistani plane was seen by ground troops falling from the sky on the Pakistani side. In this clash, we unfortunately lost a Mig-21. The pilot is missing in action. Pakistan claims that it holds him, ” he said, noting more about this matter. The latter information was being verified.
Pakistan does not want “war” with India
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that its air force had “struck” through the Line of Control, a ceasefire line that serves as a border between India and Pakistan.
“These are not reprisals,” Pakistani diplomacy insisted, “the only goal is to demonstrate our right, will, and ability to self-defense. “We have no intention of escalation, but are fully prepared to do so if we are forced to this paradigm,” the statement said.
“We want to stay responsible, we do want peace. We do not want to go to war, ” said General Asif Ghafoor.
Earlier Wednesday, India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj also appeared to plead appeasement, saying during a trip to China that “India does not want to escalate” and “will continue to act responsibly”.
Tuesday’s operation was not military because “it was not targeting Pakistani military installations,” Swaraj said. The goal was a training camp of the Islamist movement Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), she argued.
Pakistan closes its airspace
“The Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan has officially closed its airspace until further notice,” she said on Twitter. A Pakistani army spokesman said the decision was made “because of the circumstances” .
All airlines were instructed to “suspend their operations in Pakistan until further notice” .
Civil Aviation Authority of #Pakistan has officially closed its airspace until further notice & issued NOTAM. 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/qGZBMiKxvG
— CAA Pakistan (@AirportPakistan) February 27, 2019
Airports closed in India
On the Indian side, at least five airports have also been closed and many flights canceled, industry officials said on condition of anonymity. The Indian Civil Aviation Authority made no immediate comment.
On the Indian side, the authorities have only reported an immediate incursion of Pakistani planes into Indian airspace over the highly militarized ceasefire line in Kashmir. The hunters were reportedly repelled, the Indian news agency PTI reported that they also dropped bombs.
The major airports of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as those of Amritsar and Chandigargh in northern India, have been closed to civilian flights.
The Indian army said it carried out a raid on Tuesday against a training camp in Pakistan of the Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which was operating actively in the Srinagar valley. They have killed “A very large number” of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) fighters there.
Islamabad had immediately denounced an “untimely aggression” and promised to respond “at the time and place of his choice . ”
Calls for restraint
India and Pakistan have waged three wars in the past, two of them in Kashmir. But pakistan won non of them. A Himalayan region mostly populated by Muslims, divided between those two countries called india and pakistan that have been claiming independence from the British colonial empire 1947.
New Delhi explained Tuesday’s action that insurgent group Jaish-e-Mohammed, who claimed responsibility for the Indian Kashmir suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitaries on February 14, is preparing for new attacks too in India.
India claims to have hit a training camp of the Islamist organization in Balakot, a city in north-eastern Pakistan near the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistan denies the “strike” and only reports an incursion of Indian planes into its airspace, which would have dropped a payload that would have neither damage anything nor killed anyone according to this version.
The Indian government, however, has tried to limit the risk of Indo-Pakistani escalation by presenting the strike as “preventive” and “non-military” . It would be the first attack as an air strike by India against its neighbor since the war they fought in 1971 around East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
The United States, the European Union and China on Tuesday called both nuclear powers for “restraint” and dialogue.
