Pakistan Air Force has operationalised all its forward bases in response to Indian ‘threats,’ even as reports spoke of a Pakistani fighter jet flying over Siachen. The Indian Air Force has denied any airspace violation in the glacier area.
PAF chief Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman’s announcement on Wednesday about the heightened readiness by his force came in response to a recent letter by his Indian counterpart asking all Indian Air Force officers to be ready for operations at a very short notice.
Air Chief Marshal Aman warned that any aggression by the “enemy” will be remembered by their coming generations, in a clear warning to India. His Indian counterpart Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa recently wrote individually to IAF officers: “In the present scenario, there is an ever persistent sub-conventional threat. Therefore, we need to be prepared for operations with our present holdings, at a very short notice.” The Indian Air Chief’s letter to 12,000 IAF officers on March 30, emerged in public in recent days.
War exercises
Air Chief Marshal Aman, while talking to the media at Qadri Airbase in Skardu, said Pakistan is a peace-loving country but ready to counter any aggression. “The nation should not worry about the enemy’s threats... We are ready to face all kinds of challenges,” he told reporters. He supervised war exercises by fighter jet squadrons in Skardu area near Siachen.
‘No attack on Indian posts by Pakistan’
The Indian Army on Wednesday rejected the claims of the Pakistani Army that it struck Indian posts along the Line of Control (LoC) on May 13.
Senior Indian Army officers also pointed three serious lacunae in the Pakistani video released to substantiate their claim. On Tuesday, the Army announced that it had launched “punitive fire assaults” on May 9 and destroyed several Pakistani posts which were aiding terrorists in infiltration and released a video as proof.
In response, the Pakistani Army released a counter video at the end of day claiming that they had done similar assaults on Indian posts on May 13 from the Bhimber sector in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). “In the Naushera sector, which faces the Bhimber sector in PoK, where they claim this occurred, we have hardened concrete bunkers. So the impact on it would be different. Based on the impact in the video it does not seem to be a concrete bunker,” a senior officer said.
The second issue the officer pointed was that the burst and impact of the fire was not clear.
“Normally the point of impact of a shell is seen, so there is concern that it was blown by them from within low,” he stated.
The third aspect which proves that the incident did not occur on May 13 according to the officer was that there was no unusual movement along the LoC or any casualties on our side.
