Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Surgical Strike 2: It was dark, says Pakistan Defence Minister on PAF role. Internet trolls him apart
Pakistan Defence Minister Pervez Khattak was savagely trolled on social media after a clip from his press conference went viral. Khattak answered it was dark to a question on why the Pakistan Air Force did not shoot down Indian Air Force jets. Twitter erupted.
akistan Defence Minister Pervez Khattak is right in the middle of a Twitter storm after his press conference on the Indian Air Force's airstrike in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The minister is being trolled left, right and centre on Twitter after a clip from his presser went viral on the micro-blogging platform.
The minister was asked a question on why the Indian fighter jets were not brought down by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Khattak's response to the question was, "Our air force was ready but since it was dark they could not assess the damage so they waited and now there is clear direction that if there is any other similar attack we will respond adequately."
On February 26, the Indian Air Force struck deep within Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinceand eliminated training camps of the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The pre-dawn strike was conducted by 12 Mirage 2000 jets of the Indian Air Force, in retaliation to Jaish's attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy on February 14, an incident that took the lives of 40 CRPF jawans.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, in a joint press conference with the country's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Finance Minister Asad Umar, spoke about the Indian Air Force attack.
After Khattak's explanation that the Pakistan Air Force could not shoot down the Indian Air Force fighter jets because 'it was dark', Qureshi jumped to his defence saying, "May I just add. The Pakistan Air Force was already airborne. We were ready for all eventualities."
The clip from the presser was shared widely on social media on Tuesday.
"This is the Defence minister of Naya Pakistan: "Our air force was ready but it was dark.." Guys, ghabrana nahi hai. #okbye," wrote Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat.
Twitter soon followed suit, from both sides of the border.
"India se phele China se confirm krlo... Radar diye the tumhe.. Ya fir anteena he pakda diya hai... Baate dekho airborne ki kr raha hai.." wrote a Twitter user.
Someone else attacked Pervez Khattak, "Pakistani DefMin sounds like old uncle asking for 10 rs near Tea stall."
"Angrezi mein bolne se izzat nahi bache gi z aur defence minister ko chavanprash khilao," read another tweet.
When a Twitter user wrote, "Oye defence minister ko kuch khilaaya pilaaya bhi karo !!", someone responded, "Hehe 7 bn dollar hai unke paas abhi. Saare paise military aur ISI khaa jaate hai, uske upar usme corruption. Tamatar bhi 200 mein bik rahe hai. Electricity nahi. Kuchh dino baad paani bhi nahi rahega."
"Is he your defence minister...give him some glucose water please...he need it.." was another tweet targeted at Khattak.
Enter PM Narendra Modi: "Modiji next time don't attack in night. Please wait for sunrise. Be fair."
And Amitabh Bachchan is here too: "When asked what happened, the Pak Defense recited a few words from an Amitabh song from Mr Natwarlal: 'Ghadi thi, andhera magar sakt tha.'"
If Pakistan is being trolled, can tomatoes be left behind? "So cool, they were bombing us, since it was dark we couldn't see what was happening and by God's grace we saw that nothing happened in the morning. Now let us all go back and start searching for the tomatoes."
"Lol. Hum torch/bulb hi fenk dete !" was another response to Khattak's words.
's other Tweets
On Tuesday, a fan account dedicated to Pakistan Defence faced a similar plight on Twitter after a tweet from the handle went viral for terrible timing. The account, called Pakistan Defence, tweeted at 12.06am on February 26, "Sleep tight because PAF is awake."
The Indian Air Force's airstrikes in Pakistan were conducted three and a half hours later. Twitter went crazy trolling the Pakistan Defence tweet all through Tuesday.
https://www.indiatoday.in/trending-news/story/surgical-strike-2-it-was-dark-pakistan-defence-minister-paf-trolled-1466149-2019-02-27
#PeaceNotWar - #Pakistan - #India - Editorial: War is no picnic, a conflict will have devastating consequences for the entire subcontinent
In the aftermath of the Pulwama incident, shrill lobbies on both sides of the border have started beating the drums of war. Particularly jarring are the armchair warriors of the media — especially on the Indian side — baying for the blood of the ‘other’.
There has also been a reprehensible effort to exploit the attack and work up anti-Kashmiri and anti-Muslim sentiments in India, predominantly by the storm troopers of Hindutva. But perhaps what is most worrisome is that ministers and members of the establishment on both sides are talking casually about war.
As saner minds in India and Pakistan have pointed out, “war is no picnic”, and a conflict will have devastating consequences for the entire subcontinent. Moreover, the Pulwama incident — gory as it was — was not a Mumbai-like militant attack targeting civilians. It was an indigenous reaction to India’s brutish tactics in held Kashmir, so laying the blame at Pakistan’s door will not make the core issue go away.
However, amidst the din of war, there are some sensible statements coming from the top leadership in Islamabad and Delhi. Over the weekend, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned an earlier conversation with Imran Khan in which he had made an offer to his counterpart to fight illiteracy and poverty together. Mr Khan replied favourably on Sunday, once again asking the Indian side to provide “actionable intelligence”, if it had any, of Pakistani involvement in the Pulwama episode.
In such a tense atmosphere, India should take up Pakistan’s offer to “give peace a chance” as the alternatives to constructive dialogue are confrontation and yet more hostility.
While the respective leaders have done the right thing by toning down rhetoric, it is time this had a trickle-down effect on ministers and senior government functionaries indulging in war talk.
As three former foreign secretaries of Pakistan have written in this paper, war in the nuclear age is a catastrophic proposition.
Previous Pakistan-India wars were different affairs; this time both belligerents have powerful nuclear arsenals, which should be enough of a deterrent to convince both security establishments and their political counterparts to prefer negotiations to the battlefield.
The fact is that both states need to introspect and consider what steps can be taken internally to promote peace in the subcontinent.
In India’s case, Hindutva ideologues have infiltrated all levels of the state machinery; this has resulted in an increasingly rigid attitude towards Pakistan. Moreover, the Indian military’s brutal tactics in occupied Kashmir have fired up Kashmiri resistance, with the region’s disillusioned youth convinced that only armed struggle against India will help them secure their rights. But it is also true that Pakistan can take steps to send positive signals across the border. Among these can be speeding up the legal process to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to justice.
#PeaceNotWar - #Pakistan - War and the economy
After the human cost, the economy is the biggest casualty of war. This has been made amply clear by how the Indian and Pakistani stock markets have reacted to the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) aggression inside Pakistani territory on Tuesday morning. According to reports, India’s Sensex plunged 500 points in opening deals and Nifty slipped below the 10,740 level. Indian brokers noted that market sentiments were down as domestic institutional investors initiated a fresh round of selling. Meanwhile here in Pakistan, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) slipped 1,491 points to the 37,330 level after closing at 38,821 the previous day.
The subcontinent is one of the poorest regions in the world. A 2018 World Bank report entitled Poverty and Shared Prosperity showed that India had over 170 million people living in poverty (with the poverty line being set at $1.90) in 2015, while Pakistan had 9.9 million. In such a situation, it is both irresponsible and callous of politicians, military personnel as well as media personalities to engage in war-mongering.
Not only does the militaristic jingoism that has been broadcast from television screen and twitter accounts lead to events like India’s recent violations which shook the economies of these impoverished countries, it also makes it harder for India and Pakistan to get out of the vicious arms race they have been embroiled in for years. The two states continue to spend billions every year in attempts to one-up each other in terms of military superiority, while millions of their citizens remain deprived of the basic amenities of life; including decent diets, potable water, education, healthcare, and shelter.
New Delhi in particular needs to realise that even though India has made massive economic strides in the past decade, not all Indian citizens have benefited from this. As such, it must seek a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute and the issue of cross border terrorism. These problems cannot be resolved while India and Pakistan are firing across the border at one another. However, this will not happen while Indian anchors and journalists are actively promoting illegal cross-border adventures and the cutting off of cultural and trade ties with Pakistan.
It is hoped that better sense prevails in the days to come, and the resources currently being wasted on bombs and bullets can be diverted towards making this a more prosperous subcontinent for all.
#PeaceNotWar #Balakot is the first time one nuclear power has used air strikes on another’s territory
SRIJAN SHUKLA
Only twice have two nuclear powers indulged in violent conflict — the Soviet Union against China in 1969, and the India-Pakistan Kargil War in 1999.
This is the first time since 1971 that India has used air power against Pakistan in the latter’s territory. It is also the first time a nuclear power has used an air strike against another nuclear power on its territory.
The idea of two nuclear powers indulging in a violent conflict of any sort is very rare — there have been only two such instances in history. The specifics of these two conflicts highlight how the presence of nuclear weapons makes a large-scale conventional conflict extremely unlikely. In both instances, only a very limited-level of conventional conflict has ensued.
First instance
The first instance was when Chinese and Soviet forces indulged in cross-border skirmishes in 1969. The Soviet Union conducted its first successful nuclear test in 1949, while China did it in 1964.
At the height of the Sino-Soviet split in 1969, a group soldiers from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ambushed Soviet border guards on Zhenbao Island on the Ussuri River in northern China.
Following this attack, the Soviet Union sent its combat forces to fight the PLA. The skirmishes lasted for six months, and ended with a Chinese victory.
According to the Correlates of War Project, this is not considered a war by any conventional standards.
Second instance
The second instance was the Kargil War of 1999 between India and Pakistan.
While Indian forces used air power against Pakistan’s forces and irregulars, they did so only on the Indian territory. The Indian Air Force was specifically asked not to cross the Line of Control and operate only in Indian territory.
While Indian forces used air power against Pakistan’s forces and irregulars, they did so only on the Indian territory. The Indian Air Force was specifically asked not to cross the Line of Control and operate only in Indian territory.
Many sources consider Kargil to have been a limited war. But by conventional standards of warfare, it remains the only instance in history where two nuclear powers indulged in a conventional war.
Why Balakot is unparallelled
The Balakot strike is unparalleled because, traditionally, air strikes have been considered an extremely escalatory move by the Indian side. According to former IAF officer and author K.L. Rao’s book Indian Air Force: Glorious Past to Present, a set of internal deliberations in the 1980s helps highlight this.
Historical records suggest that India had contemplated conducting air strikes against Pakistan during early 1980s. This came after India had acquired the Jaguar fighter jets in 1979.
Eventually, the government decided against going ahead with air strikes, because its calculations suggested that Pakistan would retaliate with its F-16s and cause immense damage to Indian capabilities.
A couple of years later, in 1984, during another round of deliberations, Indian authorities again decided against conducting air strikes.
These planned air strikes against Pakistan need to be interpreted as a sort of pre-emptive strikes against Pakistan’s developing nuclear arsenal. While Pakistan became an official nuclear power only in 1998, several historical records confirm that the country’s efforts to achieve nuclear power accelerated after 1979, succeeding in 1984 when it developed a nuclear capability.
India was extremely reluctant to conduct pre-emptive strikes, because they were seen as an extremely escalatory measure. Indian policymakers feared that air strikes would lock India and Pakistan into an escalation cycle, which neither state would be able to entirely control.
Revisiting Stability-Instability Paradox
This brings us to the strategic connotations regarding a nuclear power conducting air strikes against another nuclear power.
One of the most insightful developments in nuclear deterrence theory has been the Stability-Instability Paradox.
According to this theory, when two rivals have nuclear capability, the likelihood of them indulging in a nuclear exchange is relatively small. Thus, there is stability at the nuclear level. But as a consequence of nuclear stability, the likelihood of conventional conflict rises.
Since 1998, Pakistan had dealt with this problem by lowering the nuclear stability, and subsequently opening up the conventional space. It did so by developing tactical nuclear weapons and using non-state actors to carry out attacks against India.
In terms of India, scholars said that its conventional space was effectively limited to conducting operations across the LoC. They had argued that a conventional attack by India could be responded to by a nuclear attack from Pakistan.
But given that the Balakot airstrike was conducted across the International Border, it is safe to say that India has effectively broadened its available conventional space.
Consequently, both war-gaming and nuclear theorists will have to go back to the drawing board to reconfigure what the nuclear thresholds for India and Pakistan actually look like in practice.
Saved from #Pakistani mob, downed Indian pilot becomes face of #Kashmir crisis
Drazen Jorgic, Aditya Kalra
A downed Indian fighter pilot who was attacked by a mob and then paraded on video by Pakistan’s army has become a social media sensation and a hero in his homeland amid a spiraling crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
With Pakistani villagers and soldiers filming his capture and captivity on Wednesday in clips that have since gone viral on social media, the pilot identified by Islamabad as Indian Wing Commander Abhi Nandan has fast emerged as the human face of the dangerous flare-up between the arch-foes.
India has not confirmed the pilot’s identity. Indian media have given his name as Abhinandan Varthaman.The pilot and the Indian Air Force (IAF) are at the heart of the crisis between two countries who have conducted air strikes on each other’s territory in the last two days. The United States and China have appealed for restraint.
The airman’s treatment at the hands of Pakistani troops drew both condemnation and praise, while at his house in southern India supporters gathered to record messages of solidarity.In one video posted on social media, a Pakistani soldier ankle-deep in a stream of water in the disputed Kashmir region can be seen shielding the pilot from angry villagers and shouting “enough” as they pummel his bloodied face and strike blows against his limp body.In another video, posted on Twitter by Pakistan’s information ministry, the pilot is blindfolded and can be heard saying “I’ve got hurt and I would request some water”. He then reveals his name and rank before politely fending off questions from soldiers by saying: “I’m not supposed to tell you that.”
Later, in a video released by Pakistan’s military, the captured airman is shown without a blindfold, appearing more relaxed, thanking the Pakistani army and sipping tea.
“The officers of the Pakistani Army have looked after me well, they are thorough gentlemen,” he said.
“VULGAR DISPLAY”
India’s foreign ministry branded Pakistan’s videos as a “vulgar display” of an injured airman, saying they violated international humanitarian law and the Geneva convention.
“Pakistan would be well advised to ensure that no harm comes to the Indian defense personnel in its custody. India also expects his immediate and safe return,” it said in a statement.
Pakistan’s army spokesman Asif Ghafoor tweeted a photo of the airman and said he was “being treated as per norms of military ethics”. Pakistani tweeters said he had been shown exemplary hospitality.
After Pakistan’s government released a picture of the downed pilot, social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp were inundated with old videos and photos of him.By Wednesday evening, the two top trends on Twitter in India were about the pilot, with many Indians demanding his release under a #BringBackAbhinandan hashtag.
In one video shared on social media, purportedly from 2011, he is seen dining with the hosts of a popular Indian television food show. Asked about attributes important for a pilot, he says: “Bad attitude”. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video.
Many posts concerned the pilot’s safety, and some expressed relief to see the later video of him clutching a cup of tea.
“I Salute Our Brave IAF Pilot,” said Twitter user Aarti, who changed her Twitter profile picture to one of his old mug shots.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-kashmir-pilot-socialmedia/saved-from-pakistani-mob-downed-indian-pilot-becomes-face-of-kashmir-crisis-idUSKCN1QG2CY
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