Pakistan Military denies the presence of any Indian Air Force pilot in the custody of Pakistan. Director General Inter-Services Public Relations, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, rejected the presence of any IAF pilot in a late-night presser on Sunday night.
International and local media outlets attended the joint presser organized by the top officials from the three armed forces following Pakistan’s operation Banyan-un-Marsoos. The title of the operation has been coined from the scripture of the Holy Quran, implying ‘Wall of Steel’.
A journalist post-briefing asked the question if Pakistan has captured any Indian pilot, to which DG ISPR replied, “Pakistan has not captured any Indian pilot. It is all a social media chatter.”
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He further said, “This is all part of fake news and propaganda that has been generated from multiple sources.”
Social media was rife with speculations of Pakistan capturing a female Indian fighter pilot on May 10th, following Pakistan’s retaliatory strikes on India. Pakistan targeted several Indian air bases, military installations, and airfields.
From memes to several OSINT sources confirming the arrest of one Indian pilot by Pakistan, appeared on social media. However, DG ISPR laid the speculations to rest following his denial.
Earlier, Pakistan had captured Indian Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in the Operation Swift Retort in 2019. Following the initial denial by India, Pakistan produced Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman to the media. To confirm his arrest, Pakistan even released his video. Later, Pakistan returned Varthaman to India.
In the Banyan-un-Marsoos operation, Pakistan targeted military elements, including headquarters, logistic bases, artillery positions, and posts that had caused civilian casualties in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) through unprovoked artillery and small arms fire were relentlessly targeted and heavily damaged until they raised the white flags and asked for restraint, on Line of Control.
“Pakistan has brought justice and retribution for the reprehensible Indian military’s aggression and brutal killings of our citizens. Pakistan’s response was a textbook demonstration of integrated tri-services jointness enabled by real-time situational awareness and network-centric warfare capabilities,” he said.