India had claimed that Pakistan used F-16s during a recent dogfight with India, in which the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down two Indian jets. India claimed that the use of F-16s was in violation of the agreement with the US, but officials from the States said that they had put no restrictions on Pakistan over the use of the jets.
“Soon after we were informed by the Indian side about Pakistan using F-16 aircraft on Feb 27, we informed the Indians that we will not be sharing any information on the subject as it is a bilateral matter between the US and Pakistan,” a US official told Indian Express.
He added that if a third country asks about the C130 or C17 or Apaches that the Indian Air Force uses, the US will respond in a similar way.
India had also claimed that a Pakistani F-16 was shot down by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman before he himself was shot down. However, US officials who visited Pakistan to probe the matter revealed that no F-16 sold to Pakistan by the US was missing.
Viping Narang, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor, told Foreign Policy that things look ‘worse and worse for India’. “It looks increasingly like India failed to impose significant costs on Pakistan, but lost a plane and a helicopter of its own in the process,” he said.