Pakistan likely to face strong scrutiny.
Pakistan is likely to face intense scrutiny from USA over misuse of F-16. After India with proof exposed that Pakistan had indeed used F-16s to enter airspace, now Islamabad is trying to take a brazen approach.
Chaudhary Fawad Hussain, who is Pakistan's federal information minister has been quoted as saying that they can use F-16s wherever they want as they have paid for it. He didn't deny that Pakistan had used F-16 against India. Earlier Pakistan authorities had claimed that F-16s were not used on Wednesday, which was subsequently soundly refuted by Indian Air Force. Conclusive proof was shown that Pakistan had indeed used F-16. The Indian Air Force on Thursday displayed parts of an AMRAAM beyond visual range air-to-air missile as evidence to prove that Pakistan deployed US-manufactured F-16 fighter jets during an aerial raid targeting Indian military installations in Kashmir after India's anti-terror operation in Balakot .
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Reacting to the development, US State Department has told PTI, "We are aware of these reports and are seeking more information". "Due to non-disclosure agreements in Foreign Military Sales contracts, we cannot discuss the specifics of end user-agreements contained within," Lt Col Kone Faulkner, a Defense Department spokesperson told PTI.
The United States, which is the largest seller of high-tech defence equipment globally, has a strong end-user monitoring agreement, and as a matter of practice takes all allegations of misuse of defense articles very seriously.
Publicly available documents reveal that US has imposed nearly a dozen restriction on Pakistan related to its use of F-16. According to reports, Pakistan is not supposed to use them against Indian and they have been given to them to fight the war against terror.
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Already the US government has severely slammed Pakistan for not doing anything to curb terror operations happening from the country. A misuse of F-16 would only add to USA's lost list of grievances about Pakistan. It is also likely to make life difficult for Imran Khan who is currently facing a lot of pressure domestically and has got completely cornered in the international community.
Here's the sequence of events
With PTI inputs
1. India exposed Pak lies
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The Indian Army, Air Force and Navy came together on Thursday to expose Pakistan in a unique tri-services joint press briefing. The joint press briefing called out Pakistan for lying about not using any F-16 fighter jets in its operation inside Indian territory on Wednesday. India had confirmed that it had shot down an F-16 warplane of Pakistan while it lost a MiG 21 during the fierce engagement between the air forces of the two countries along the Line of Control (LoC). However, Pakistan has been denying that they have used F-16s during the operation as well as the downing of one F-16 plane by India.
Pakistan's lie: Pakistan had denied using F-16 planes in the attack. It has also said that no Pakistan plane was shot down by India.
Air Vice Marshal (AVM) RGK Kapoor said that IAF fighters were tasked to intercept the intruding Pakistan attack and managed to thwart them. He said that one Pakistani F-16 was shot down by an IAF MiG-21 Bison Aircraft and parts of F-16 have been recovered, inside Indian area in East of Rajouri. The chiefs of the armed forces then presented part of the cover of AARAM missile fired from Pakistani F-16 aircraft found near LoC.
(Image courtesy Bir Bahadur/DNA)
2. What did Pakistan Minister say
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Fawad Hussain Chaudhary, a senior Pakistani minister was quoted by Pakistani media as saying, “We purchased them from America and didn’t get them in a grant. So we’ll decide where to deploy them. F-16 jets will be used for the purpose for which they are needed. But Insha’Allah, we hope that situation doesn’t arise".
(Image of Pak F-16s courtesy AFP)
3. How has US responded
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The US is seeking more information from Pakistan on the potential misuse of American-made F-16 fighter jets by it against India in violation of the end-user agreement, the State Department has said.
"We are aware of these reports and are seeking more information," a State Department spokesperson told PTI when asked about report that Pakistan has violated end-user agreement with the United States in this week's border clash with India.
"Due to non-disclosure agreements in Foreign Military Sales contracts, we cannot discuss the specifics of end user-agreements contained within," Lt Col Kone Faulkner, a Defense Department spokesperson told PTI.
Publicly available documents reveal that US has imposed nearly a dozen restriction on Pakistan related to its use of F-16.
During a Congressional hearing on July 20, 2006, John Miller the then Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs, had told lawmakers that the United States has "very carefully considered" the potential risks of the diversion of US technology and equipment." While the exact details of the restrictions were discussed in a closed-door session, and thus remains classified, Miller then broadly outlined some of the restrictions, which he said were over a "dozen new and unprecedented elements" of the security plan for Pakistan.
Miller then told lawmakers that the security provisions also include semi-annual inventories of all F-16 aircraft equipment and munitions, including related technical data, and more frequent inventories for other systems.
"There is a two-man rule, so to speak, for access to this equipment and restricted areas, and F-16 flights outside of Pakistan or participation in exercises and operations with third nations must be approved in advance by the United States government," the then top State Department official said, according to the transcripts of the hearing.
(Image of Pak F-16 courtesy AFP)
