It has been a month since Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was released by Pakistan after being held captive by them. The widely believed theory in India is that Abhinandan had shot down Pakistan’s F-16 aircraft before his aircraft MiG-21 Bison was shot down by Pakistan. But there is a section of people in India who believe that it was just a rumour created by Indian Media. The co-founder of a left-leaning fact-checking website Alt News, Md. Zubair retweeted a month old tweet of Manak Gupta to point out that the pictures of debris shared by him are of our Indian Mig-21 Bison which was shot down by Pak on 27th Feb. Not of F-16. He then went ahead to accuse Indian media of fooling Indians by sharing these pics as PAK F-16.

Manak Gupta has now deleted his tweet

IAF officially attributed Pak F-16 kill to Wg Cdr Abhinandan

As per a report in Economic Times, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman had said in his debriefing that he saw a Pakistan Air Force F16 going down on the other side of the border. He was captured by Pakistan after his MiG21 was shot down. The report also mentions that his jet might have been hit by an AMRAAM missile, thus forcing him to eject. Abhinandan stated that he had fired his R73 and informed ground controllers before going silent. According to a report by the Hindustan Times, sources stated that at least 4 AMRAAM missiles were recorded in the air but none of the other fighter jets was hit. The IAF had confirmed that Pakistani F16 jets had fired several AIM120 AMRAAM missiles during the aerial battle. It is also given that, “The use of F16 by PAF and multiple launches of AMRAAM were conclusively observed during the combat. Prompt and correct tactical action by Su30 aircraft, in response to AMRAAM launch, defeated the missiles,” the IAF said. Furthermore, these claims about IAF releasing statements about Pakistan’s F-16 aircraft can be proven true as the claim has been reported by the Press Information Bureau ( PIB ). The report states “ Misinformation on the shooting of Pakistan Air Force F-16 by MiG-21 Bison is being spread on various social media sites. IAF during the press statement on 28 Feb 19 had clarified that one F-16 of Pakistan Air Force was shot by MiG-21 Bison and it fell across the LoC.”

Pakistan had claimed that they did not use the F-16 jets. However, IAF in a press conference displayed the pieces of AIM-120 AMRAAM missile that was used to target the Indian fighter jets found next to Rajouri, in the Indian side of the territory. It is seen that these missiles can be carried only by F-16 jets, both American made. Thus Pakistan’s claims that they did not use F-16 have been proven false. This claim becomes significant because America has a very strict end-use monitoring system. It was told that those F-16 jets are to be used only for self-defence and anti-war activities but the attack carried on India was an act of aggression thus as Times Now reported, Pakistan has been warned.

The claim of one Pilot being in the Hospital

Major-General Asif Ghafoor in a press conference had claimed that Pakistan had shot down two Indian jets. One pilot (referring to Abhinandan) was captured and other was shifted to the hospital. This was also reported by prime minister Imran Khan in his address to the National Assembly.

The relevant section in the video is at 3:30.

However, the truth is that only one pilot was arrested by Pakistan. Now the question is who was the second pilot which was shifted to the hospital? Clearly, he was not an Indian pilot. Then was he Pakistani Pilot whose F-16 Jet was shot down? Probably we will never know. But this incidence gives enough hint that Pakistani F-16 was indeed shot down by Abhinandan.

Earlier this month, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman admitted the Indian military knew the identity of the Pakistani pilot whose F-16 fighter aircraft was shot down by Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-21 Bison, piloted by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. She further said that there were eyewitness accounts as well as electronic evidence for it.

Even Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, at a media briefing, had said that an Indian Air Force MiG-21 Bison, piloted by Wing Commander Varthaman, shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft and there are eyewitness accounts and electronic evidence for it.

Therefore, all the evidence suggests that the claim about Abhinandan shooting down F-16 jets of Pakistan is true.

Fake News about the identity of Pakistani Pilot

Earlier India Today had reported that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilot Wing Commander Shahzaz-ud-Din, who was flying the F-16 fighter jet was able to bail himself out from the crash but was lynched by the locals assuming him to be an Indian. “The news that Shahaz-ud-Din’s plane was shot down was first reported by London-based lawyer Khalid Umar, who says he received it privately, from individuals related to the F-16 pilot’s family.”

It was reported that he was the son of Waseem-ud-Din, who is also an Air Marshal of the Pakistan Air Force. However, an investigation by Asia Times revealed that while Air Marshal Wasimuddin did serve in the PAF before retiring, he did not have a son named Shahaz-ud-Din.

But again, just because there is a mismatch in the identity of the doomed pilot, it can't be said that F-16 jet was not shot down by India.

Matching Serial number in the debris

A twitter user Defense 360 has claimed that the serial number visible on the box in the debris matches with Jordan Air Force's F-16 which was later handed over to PAF in 2016.

However, we haven't verified this from our end. We will publish a separate post to debunk the claims made in this tweet.