In its official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs asserted that Pakistan had attempted to target Indian military installations. The government also stated that one Pakistani aircraft was shot down by Indians and in the process, India lost one Mig-21 and its pilot has since then gone missing. Pakistan has claimed that the pilot is in their custody.
Pakistan’s attempted attack on India’s military assets in response to Indian air strikes which were clearly “non-military” as stated by the government in its earlier statement marks a clear escalation on Pakistan’s part. It has to be remembered that India attacked terrorist camps which are clearly non-military assets.
Former Air Chief Krishnaswamy has also been reported as saying that it was an act of escalation on part of Pakistan.
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After escalating tensions, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is now calling for talks. In a media briefing, he said, “All wars in world history have been miscalculated, those who started the wars did not know where it will end. So, I want to ask India, with the weapons you and we have, can we afford miscalculation? If a war takes place, it will not be in my or Narendra Modi’s control. If you want any kind of talks on terrorism, we are ready. Better sense must prevail. We should sit down and talk.”
By this statement, Khan has not only attempted to peddle their ‘we have nuclear weapons’ threat, but also has shamelessly continued their farce of claiming victimhood over terrorists that their government shelters and supports.
Khan’s appeal to ‘better sense’ reek of duplicity as the Pakistanis chose to escalate matters by attempting to attack Indian military installations when India had bombed only terror camps. The Indian Government is likely to have factored into its calculations that Pakistan will escalate matters after the strikes. It remains to be seen how India responds to the latest Pakistani affront.