Pakistan Purposely Did Not Intercept Indian Drones to Shield its Defence Locations: Asif

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, May 9: He certainly not be joking when he was facing his own country’s parliament, but the Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif must have evoked a wave of laughter when he told the House that the Pakistani Army purposely did not intercept the Indian drones as their retaliation would have given away the defence positions to the Indian forces.

The minister’s comments came in reference to Pakistan’s Thursday defeat, following India’s remarkable response. India on Thursday successfully neutralised the 35-minute-long hostilities launched by Islamabad to avenge New Delhi’s attack on nine terror camps.

“I can’t go into the details. But we didn’t intercept Indian drones during yesterday’s attack as we didn’t want to give away our defence positions,” the Pakistani Defence Minister said while addressing the country’s Parliament.

Notably the same Khawaja Asif earlier in the morning had threatened India that “If India does not talk at the diplomatic and political table and [through diplomatic] channels, we will talk and respond with guns. Pakistan does not have time to wait and show patience. We have to stop India here,” he said.

This was not the first time that Khwaja Asif has given such a bizarre explanation to conceal Pakistan’s failure. The minister was recently left egg-faced after he was humiliated in the international media for making references to “social media content” to prove his claim of “downing Indian fighter jets” during “Operation Sindoor.”

His latest humiliation comes from his bizarre and unsubstantiated claim that Pakistan shot down five Indian fighter planes as India struck terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on the night of May 7. Amid a flood of fake news propagating from Pakistani social media handles and their sympathisers, the Press Information Bureau fact-checked several claims including those claiming the shooting down of Indian jets.

In an interview with CNN, Asif was asked for proof of this claim, to which he said, “It’s all over social media, on Indian social media, not on our social media. The debris of these jets fell in Indian-occupied Kashmir.”

The anchor interrupted the Pakistani minister and said, “The reason to talk to you today is not to talk about content on social media. I’m asking specifically for the evidence, details. For example, was any Chinese equipment used to down these Rafale jets, as I understand you are alleging to be?”

Dodging the question, he responded with “if India can buy planes from France, Pakistan can buy from China.” “No Chinese equipment. We have Chinese planes, but they are being manufactured and assembled in Islamabad now. If India can buy planes from France and use them, we can also buy planes from China or Russia or the US, or the UK. They have already admitted that their 3 planes were downed,” he falsely claimed.

The anchor asked him again if Chinese “equipment” was used to allegedly bring down the jets, to which Asif said that they were “shot down” in a “dogfight.” “The Indian planes were downed in the dogfight. Missiles were fired from our planes, and they were shot down. What sort of equipment are you referring to?” Asif said, as he stammered while lying through his teeth.

The last time he was left embarrassed was when he told Yalda Hakim in an interview on Sky News that Pakistan has been doing the “dirty work” for the United States and the West for three decades. His remarks had come when he was asked about Pakistan’s involvement in funding and training terrorists over a long period of time.

India, meanwhile, as dismissed Pakistani claims that not Pakistan but the Indian armed forces were targeting its own cities. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Friday condemned the May 8 attacks by Pakistan targeting multiple locations in India, including Amritsar, dismissing as “preposterous and outrageous” the claim by Islamabad that India was attacking its own territories. He also condemned Pakistan’s attempt to spread disinformation about a drone strike on the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara, calling it a blatant lie.

Addressing a press briefing on Friday, Mr Misri said, “Instead of owning up to its actions, Pakistan made the preposterous and outrageous claims that it is the Indian armed forces that are targeting its own cities like Amritsar and trying to blame Pakistan.” “That we would attack our cities is the kind of deranged fantasy that only the Pakistani state can come up with, perhaps they do it because they are well versed in as their history would show,” he said.

“Pakistan spread disinformation that India targeted the Nankama Sahib Gurdwara through a drone attack, which is yet another blatant lie… Pakistan is trying desperately to impart a communal hue to the situation with an intention to create a communal discord…,” the Foreign Secretary said. Mr Misri strongly condemned the “provocative and escalatory actions,” by Pakistan stating that the attacks were deliberately aimed at Indian cities, including civilian infrastructure, alongside military establishments.

“These provocative and escalatory actions taken by Pakistan last night were targeted at Indian cities and civilian infrastructure in addition to military establishments. Indian armed forces responded proportionately, adequately, and responsibly… The official and blatantly farsical denial of these attacks that Pakistan carried out, by the Pakistani state machinery is another example of their duplicity and the new depths they are plumbing to,” Mr Misri said.