Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on security amid the heightened tensions with Pakistan.
India-Pakistan tension LIVE News: Hours after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that the captured IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan will be released tomorrow as a “peace gesture”, the Indian Air Forces expressed its happiness over the development and said that his release is in consonance with the Geneva Convention.
In a joint presser by the armed forces, the IAF also said there is enough evidence to show that Pakistan used F-16s to target Indian military installations in this mission. Pakistan has denied that F-16 was part of the operation–any such admission would violate US sale conditions of not letting Pakistan use F-16s in an offensive role.
India on Tuesday conducted non-military preemptive air strikes on a terror camp in Balakot. A day later, Pakistan Air Force aircraft (PAF) violated Indian airspace in J&K and attempted air strikes but caused little damage on the ground as the bombs fell in uninhabited areas near military installations. In the process of thwarting the PAF’s intrusion, the IAF lost a MiG-21 Bison–its pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, who ejected across the Line of Control, after bringing down a Pakistani F-16 during the aerial confrontation to repel the Pakistani attack.
Under section 3 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, Central Government declares the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Jammu and Kashmir as an "unlawful association".
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government had sent a notice to YouTube to take down "humiliating videos" of Wing Commander Abhinandan Vardhaman, captured by the Pakistan army. "We had received complaints that an unfortunate instance had come up where humiliating videos of the Wing Commander (Abhinandan) had been uploaded on YouTube from Pakistan side. We had sent a notice to YouTube and complying with the same they took down 11 such videos," he said.
"In the light of the situation prevailing in the country today we expect the social media platforms to ensure that they should not allow their platform to be abused by content which is designed to weaken the morale of the country," he further said.
In a media briefing, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the Union Cabinet approved the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019. "Once the Ordinance is issued, it would pave the way for bringing persons residing in the areas adjoining International Border within the ambit of reservation at par with persons living in areas adjoining Actual Line of Control," he said.
Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor said there is enough evidence to show that F-16s were used in this mission through their electronic signatures. "Parts of AMRAAM, air to air missile which is carried only on the Pakistani F-16s was recovered east of Rajouri within the Indian territory," he said. Pakistan, however, had claimed that no F-16 was part of the operation--any such admission would violate US sale conditions of not letting Pakistan use F-16s in an offensive role
In a joint presser by the Indian armed forces, Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor said that the IAF is happy that Wing Commander Abhinandan is returning tomorrow. He also said that one Pakistani F-16 was shot down by an IAF MiG 21 Bison Aircraft., adding that parts of F-16 have been recovered, inside Indian territory.
Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor: One Pakistani F-16 was shot down by an IAF MiG 21 Bison Aircraft. East of Rajouri, parts of F-16 have been recovered, inside Indian territory. Also, IAF is happy that Wing Commander Abhinandan is returning tomorrow
Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapur: There have many factually incorrect statements made by the Pakistan Air Force. Earlier, they said they had the custody of two IAF officers. Later in the evening, they retracted the statement and said only officer is under their custody
Minutes after his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan said captured IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be repatriated to India Friday as a “gesture of peace”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said; “Abhi abhiek pilot project pura ho gaya. Abhi real karna hai, pehletoh practice thi.” READ more
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's decision to release captured IAF pilot Abhinandan is a step towards goodwill. "I'm very happy, I had demanded his release earlier too. This is going to be a step towards goodwill and I hope this will be lasting," Singh was quoted as saying by ANI.
Joint press briefing by Army, Navy and Air Force in New Delhi that was scheduled for 5 pm today has been postponed to 7 pm, ANI reported
Addressing a joint session, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be released tomorrow as a peace gesture, the Dawn reported.
The IT Ministry has asked YouTube to remove 11 video links pertaining to Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by Pakistan during an air combat on Wednesday, according to sources. The ministry had asked YouTube to remove the clips following directive from the Home Ministry, a government source said, adding that the said links have now been removed. PTI
Rubbishing Pakistan’s narrative that IAF air strikes in Balakot did not hit the targets, the government sources insisted that strikes were 100 per cent on target. In the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, India had carried out “pre-emptive” strikes against “biggest training camp” of JeM in Balakot in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa, in which “a very large number” of JeM terrorists and their trainers were “eliminated”.