DNA Edit: No last word: Now, US says it has not taken stock of their F-16s in Pakistan

The case of the Pakistani F-16 is getting more and more curious. Days after the Pakistani military authorities got the Americans to state that the Indian MIG-Bison that shot a Pakistani F-16, was not actually the aircraft in mention, Indians has done one better. Pentagon has denied that an American defence team had conducted a physical inspection of the F-16s that Pakistan has. Last week, Islamabad said in a statement that an American defence team had taken stock of their F-16 inventory in Pakistan and found out that all their aircraft was intact. In the ensuing tension between the two countries, which had led to IAF fighter Abhinandan Varthaman hitting a F-16 in his MIG-Bison before bailing out and being captured in Pakistan, the point at stake is the make of the enemy fighter jet that was shot by the IAF pilot.

As ever, in the fog of war, clarity is a major casualty. Pakistan claims that no F-16 was shot by the Indian and what was actually hit was a Chinese aircraft, while India is sticking to its version that it was actually a F-16 that had been hit. Part of the Pakistani reticence has to do with the end user agreement that they have with the US. As per the terms of the agreement, Pakistan is not supposed to use F-16 except to counter terror and fighting a war with India certainly does not constitute an act of fighting terror. So who is speaking the truth? There is another aside. The F-16 is one of the US Air Force’s top brands, sales of which go into trillions of dollars worldwide. It would be a little ambitious to expect that the Americans will easily concede that an old-fashioned MIG has shot down a mighty F-16. Its market repercussions would be huge, experts in the business state. One thing is for sure though; the last subject on the subject is yet to be told.