Today marked 4th anniversary of “Operation Swift Retort” when Pakistan Armed Forces responded appropriately to India’s failed misadventure. It all started on February 26, 2019, when Indian Air Force planes carried out airstrikes in Balakot, a town in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Despite Pakistan’s willingness for diplomatic talks the hyper-nationalist and religiously indoctrinated political party BJP took a ‘coercive’ stance and manipulated the incident as an electoral card as general elections were only few months away. Prime Minister Narendra repeatedly celebrated the airstrikes as a key accomplishment at numerous BJP rallies proclaiming how, unlike the Congress Party, the BJP will take the fight against terrorists into their homes.
India, inevitably, initiated serious military action on the 26th of February 2019 and purposely breached Pakistani airspace across the Line of Control (LOC) from the Muzaffarabad sector in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The PAF quickly detected the movement and replied with fighters following the Indian planes. Seeing the evident hit, the Indian planes panicked by dropping payload over the forests of Balakot and flew back for safety. Pakistan’s response to this military assault, not only caught India off guard, but also thought it some serious regional and global lessons.
Pakistans leadership understands how to act in accordance with international norms and standards, including the intrinsic right to self-defence against acts of aggression through boundary violations. India’s pre-emptive and so-called “surgical strikes policy forced it to swallow the mud, as Pakistan’s air force debunked the illusion that Indian conventional supremacy would be sufficient to subdue Pakistan. PAF in a broad daylight on February 27, 2019, shoot down two Indian fighter jets and captureded a pilot-wing commander Abhinandan Varthama.
Pakistan’s calculated response not only shattered India’s lofty aspirations for dominance, but also effectively secured Pakistan’s status as a responsible nuclear power. Even the swift change of circumstances fueled concerns that India and Pakistan’s longstanding resentments may lead to another armed clash. Nonetheless, the PAF’s prudent approach stopped future escalation and effectively barred a serious confrontation between two nuclear adversaries by exhibiting strategic limitation following India’s mis-adventurism.
Despondently failed to create its image as a superior military power India’s air defence system shot down own helicopter in “fog of war”. While nnotwithstanding the failure, Indian media portrayed it as a huge triumph and professed to have downed an F-16. Regardless of the fact that the Indian pilot had said on TV, while relishing a ‘wonderful’ cup of Pakistani tea, that he was looking for the target on his radar when he was blasted by an air-launched missile.
It is quite evident that India’s operational planning and execution were faulty, with overcast weather, erroneous height data, with limited knowledge of PAF’s BVR air-to-air missiles capabilities. The inability of IAF patrolling jets to pick up the gauntlet reflects poorly on the morale and training of IAF pilots. The Indian piolet was well treated in Pakistan and later sent back to Indian authorities after a brief imprisonment as a “gesture of peace” while designating February 27 as ‘Surprise Day’. Even though the unsuccessful IAF attack yielded no tangible benefits, the prospect of India repeating such action cannot be overlooked.
To maintain its regional dominance, India is expected to engage in periodic muscle-flexing by so-called “surgical strikes” performed with air-launched stand-off weaponry, which may become the new standard in Indo-Pak wars. To dissuade future Indian adventurism, Pakistan’s military, particularly the quick-reacting PAF, must maintain operational preparedness at the cutting edge.
