Pakistan’s air force shot down two Indian warplanes after they crossed the boundary between the two nuclear-armed rivals in the disputed territory of Kashmir on Wednesday, the country’s chief military spokesperson said.
“There is only one pilot under Pakistan Army’s custody,” Maj.-Gen. Asif Ghafoor said Wednesday in a tweet above a photograph apparently showing the captured pilot, who was shot down earlier in the day after responding to a Pakistani airstrike in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
It was previously reported two pilots were in custody. One of the two was wounded.
An army official who could not be identified under briefing rules said the confusion came from soldiers on the ground. While two planes were shot down, he said one pilot landed inside Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and the other on the Indian side of the disputed border.
Despite Geneva Convention rules prohibiting the public display of prisoners, the military circulated a video of the Indian pilot, who was recorded saying he was being well treated. He also praised Pakistan’s military.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released what it says is the wreckage of the Indian planes.
Wreckges of Indian fighter planes burning. Well done Pakistan Air Force. The entire nation is proud of you. pic.twitter.com/TTIb1zvNZS
The dramatic escalation came hours after Pakistan said mortar shells fired by Indian troops from across the frontier dividing the two sectors of Kashmir killed six civilians and wounded several others.
Ghafoor struck a conciliatory tone. “We have no intention of escalation, but are fully prepared to do so if forced into that paradigm,” he added.
‘Wars are full of miscalculation’
Within hours of the incident, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan went on television urging peace talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he hoped “better sense” would prevail to de-escalate the dispute with its nuclear-armed neighbour.
“History tells us that wars are full of miscalculation. My question is that given the weapons we have, can we afford miscalculation?” Khan said during a brief televised broadcast to the nation. “We should sit down and talk.”
There was no reply from Modi, but India acknowledged one of its air force planes was “lost” in skirmishes with Pakistan and that its pilot was “missing in action.”
An Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Indian planes engaged with the Pakistan aircraft and brought one of them down.
“In this engagement, we have unfortunately lost one MiG 21. The pilot is missing in action. Pakistan has claimed that he is in their custody. We are ascertaining the facts,” Raveesh Kumar told reporters.
‘Very serious’
The clashes prompted widespread concern from the international community.
On his way into question period Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the situation a “very serious one.”
PM Justin Trudeau voices his concern over the rising tensions between India and Pakistan as he heads into the House of Commons for Question Period. 0:27
British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said the U.K. government had been “working round the clock” to encourage Pakistan and India to “de-escalate and reduce tensions.”
“You have two nuclear powers who have a long history of tension squaring up against each other and now in the start of some kind of military conflict. So it’s an extremely dangerous situation.”
India’s Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol along the fenced border with Pakistan in Ranbir Singh Pura sector near Jammu on Tuesday. Tensions are mounting between the two countries. (Mukesh Gupta/Reuters)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke separately with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan and urged them to avoid “further military activity” following Tuesday’s air strike.
“I expressed to both ministers that we encourage India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, and avoid escalation at any
cost,” Pompeo said in a statement on Wednesday. “I also encouraged both ministers to prioritize direct communication and avoid further military activity,” he said.
Both China and the European Union have also called for restraint.
Meanwhile, the hashtag #SayNoToWar emerged on social media, with citizens of both countries calling for peace.
Airspace closed
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority said it shut Pakistani airspace to all commercial flights on Wednesday, without elaborating or indicating when the flights might resume. It was not clear if the shutdown applied to commercial overflights.
Indian news reports said airports in the Indian portion of Kashmir closed for civilian traffic shortly after the air force jet crashed. The Press Trust of India news agency said these airports were located at Srinagar, Jammu and Leh.
Indian administrator Baseer Khan confirmed that the airport in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, was closed and said it was a “temporary and precautionary measure.” Press Trust of India said two airports in northern Punjab state, which borders Pakistan, were also closed.
Indian police also said officials recovered six bodies from the wreckage of an Indian Air Force helicopter that crashed in Indian-controlled sector of Kashmir.
Senior police officer Munir Ahmed Khan said the chopper crashed close to an airport on Wednesday in Budgam area, in the outskirts of the region’s main city of Srinagar. The Srinagar airport is also an air force station.
Police said they were still going through the wreckage and did not immediately identify the victims. Local residents earlier said they saw three bodies at the site.
Eyewitnesses said soldiers fired warning shots in air to keep residents away from the crash site.
Meanwhile, as the tensions and confrontation escalated between India and Pakistan, authorities asked workers to paint rooftops of hospitals and clinics in red and white with a medical emblem of a cross in Srinagar city.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry in Islamabad said the country’s air force was carrying out airstrikes Wednesday from within Pakistani airspace across the disputed Kashmir boundary but that this was not in “retaliation to continued Indian belligerence.”
Ghafoor, the Pakistani military spokesperson, said the strikes were aimed at “avoiding human loss and collateral damage.”
According to local Pakistani police official Mohammad Altaf, the six fatalities in the Indian shelling earlier on Wednesday included children. The shells hit the village of Kotli in Pakistan’s section of Kashmir.
Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety. Though Pakistani and Indian troops in Kashmir often trade fire, the latest casualties came a day after tensions escalated sharply following a pre-dawn airstrike and incursion by India that New Delhi said targeted a terrorist training camp in northwestern Pakistan.
The latest wave of tensions between Pakistan and India first erupted after Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 suicide bombing of a convoy of India’s paramilitary forces in the Indian portion of Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops.
Pakistan has said it was not involved in the attack and was ready to help New Delhi in the investigations.
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