The Pakistan Air Force celebrated Surprise Day on 27th February on the eve of the second anniversary of Operation Swift Retort, to acknowledge and pay tributes to the valiant Shaheens for their brave defence of the motherland with unruffled commitment while responding to violation of the Pakistan airspace on 27 February 2019. The operation represented a rapid response to the Indian Air Force strike at Balakot during which two Indian fighter jets, a MiG 21 and an Su-30 were shot down and an Indian pilot, Wg Cdr Abhinandan was captured by the Pakistan Army after he ejected and landed on the Pakistan side of the Line of Control. It was indeed a matching reply to the Indian aggression by the Pakistan Air Force as well as the expression of its steely resolve and capability to defend the motherland.
Though India has always maintained a hostile posture towards Pakistan, the level of animosity and hostility towards Pakistan has been taken to an unprecedentedly higher level since the advent of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India. Inebriated by the supremacist RSS ideology of Hindutva he has persistently been trying to find excuses to punish Pakistan for the alleged support to freedom fighters in Indian-Occupied Kashmir and involvement in cross-border terrorism. His malice and hate about Pakistan can be judged from the fact that he stage-managed the Pulwama incident, killing his own soldiers to find an excuse to win elections and take punitive action against Pakistan.
The reported leak of a WhatsApp conversation between journalist Arnab Goswani— who is very close to Modi government— and the CEO of a rating agency wherein Goswani reveals that the Pulwama incident was enacted by the Modi government to appease his voters and use it as an excuse to take action against Pakistan, was the ugliest manifestation of fascism. An Indian Professor, Ashok Swain, had already declared Pulwama a drama. According to him, Modi did the same in Pulwama as he did in Gujarat in 2002 to garner votes.
However he had to eat dust when he attempted to punish Pakistan and ended up with a bloody nose of his own. He lamented the setback to his plans after the incident in these words: “The events of last week, which saw skirmishes between the Indian and Pakistani air forces and an Indian pilot being captured and returned, would have turned out differently if India already had Rafale fighter jets in its arsenal. Today, the lack of Rafale is being felt. The country is saying in one voice that had we had the Rafale [fighter jets] now, what all could have happened? Putting self-interest and politics before Rafale has seriously hurt the nation.” He has now acquired the Rafale planes and inducted them in the Indian Air Force. However if he tries to commit any indiscretion in future he will meet the same fate as on 27 February 2019.
Pakistan Air Force is one of the best guardians of the skies around the globe. The professional ingenuity of its pilots coupled with their unyielding commitment and spirit of sacrifice in the defence of the motherland makes them a unique fighting force in the world. India should think ten times before trying any other aggressive adventure against Pakistan.
Wars have been part of the history of mankind and in spite of their destructive nature they have been fought between nations without refrain and still continue to happen with all their diabolical repercussions, notwithstanding the efforts of the international community through the United Nations to prevent them. They have been provoked and imposed on smaller and weaker nations by the bigger and stronger ones either to subjugate them or to establish their hegemony. There is a saying that weakness invites aggression and the best way to achieve peace is to prepare for war. This irrefutable reality provides the rationale and justification for nations to take care of their defence needs in consonance with the level of threat that they are faced with.
Pakistan unfortunately has faced a credible threat to its security from India ever since its inception. It has imposed four wars on Pakistan. It is said that the worth and character of a nation is tested during times of adversity and war. Pakistan has not been found lacking in showing its resilience and unflinching resolve to defeat aggressive designs of the enemy whenever a war has been foisted on her.
The 1965 War between India and Pakistan was the one during which the armed forces of Pakistan and the nation proved their worth and character through their unprecedented unity and bravery to thwart the nefarious designs of the enemy and to prove to the aggressor as well as the world that it was not only the military might that played a decisive role in victory and defeat, but the small nations imbued with and fired by the will and determination to spare no effort and sacrifice in defending themselves could also turn the tables on the mightier foe.
The outcome of this military confrontation between the two arch enemies can best be judged by a report compiled by the Indian Defence Ministry in 1992 and revealed by The Times of India. The paper contended that the contemporary accounts, generated by a jingoistic press, saw the war as a spectacular victory on almost every front. But the truth— which cannot be hidden despite the best efforts of the official historians— is that the war was, in the words of one of India’s most distinguished commanders, Lt Gen (retd) Harbakhsh Singh, “a catalogue of lost victories” for India. Newsweek magazine, eulogizing the ability of Pakistan Armed forces to hold off the much larger Indian Army, said, “By just the end of the week, in fact, it was clear that the Pakistanis were more than holding their own”.
Holding back an enemy five times bigger than itself and giving a befittingly reply to the aggressor was an achievement of the highest order. During that battle the contribution of our air force represents a golden chapter of our war history against India. Right from day one it established its ascendency in the skies and destroyed 110 Indian planes (35 of them in dog-fights) as against its own loss of 19 planes; a fact corroborated by the independent international sources. Downing of five Indian planes in a single dog-fight over Sargodha by M.M.Alam wrote a new history in the air warfare of the world.
Pakistan Air Force is one of the best guardians of the skies around the globe. The professional ingenuity of its pilots coupled with their unyielding commitment and spirit of sacrifice in the defence of the motherland makes them a unique fighting force in the world. India should think ten times before trying any other aggressive adventure against Pakistan.
