Centre lying on Balakot strikes, shooting down F-16: Farooq Abdullah
Srinagar : Continuing his tirade against PM Modi led government over the Balakot air strikes, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah has accused Modi of “lying” to the nation on the aerial attacks and shooting down of a Pakistani F-16 in IAF and PAF dogfight.
Addressing the media, Abdullah said the American government has refuted Indian Army’s claims of bringing down Pakistan’s F-16 jet.
“He first promised 15 lakh rupees in every Indians bank account, that never happened. For a few seconds, he sent some jets in
Pakistan ‘s Balakot to drop some bombs and then said 300 people died. Some said 500 had died, some 700. Even if one man dies everybody hears about it, so how is it possible that 300 men died without any news,” Farooq Abdullah said.
“Not one has been shot down. There is some basis to even a lie. Why do you lie Modi ji? Did you defeat Pakistan ? Whichever government comes to power in the centre, I pray this one doesn’t come back,” he said .
“In a twist to the claims made by India of shooting down US-made
Pakistani F-16 , the Foreign Policy magazine in an article said that America has not found any planes supplied to Pakistan missing from the inventory. Foreign Policy’s Lara Seligman claimed that United States officials have told her that all of
Pakistan ‘s F-16 jets are accounted for and none of them is missing, following a recent check by US personnel after the February incident with India.
This is in direct contradiction to India’s claim that IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down a Pakistani F-16 with his MiG-21 Bison before his plane was downed.
The NC chief, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Srinagar constituency, alleged that the BJP government carried out the aerial strike as PM Modi’s had failed to fulfill the promises made during last general elections.
