IAF Chief: Not our job to count dead in Balakot hit

New Delhi/Coimbatore: Amid the political debate heating up over the success of airstrikes against the Jaish-e-Mohammad’s terror camp in Balakot last week, Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, the Chief of Air Staff, said Monday that the Indian Air Force doesn’t calculate casualty figures and that it is for the government to provide details on the terrorists killed in the operation.

The Air Chief asserted that a MiG-21 Bison had indeed shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-16. He said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet only if he was medically fit as an emergency ejection from an aircraft takes a toll “on your body”.

“We hit our target. The Air Force doesn’t calculate casualty numbers, the government does that,” he said on the attack at Balakot. The IAF Chief said that the bomb damage assessment that is done after a mission only assesses if the target has been hit or not hit. “We can’t count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there. We see if we have hit the target,” he said.

The IAF Chief said that a statement on the number of terrorists killed would be made by the government.

“If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan) have responded. If we had dropped bombs in the jungle, there would be no need to respond,” he said.

BJP president Amit Shah had said 250 terrorists were killed in the February 26 attack on the JeM camp in Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by the Indian Air Force. Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Kapil Sibal and Navjot Singh Sidhu sought proof of the IAF’s strike destroying the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammad camp in Balakot, and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicising terror.

The Air Chief declined to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that Rafale jets would have a made a difference. Mr Modi clarified on Monday that he had meant that if the Rafale had been acquired in time, it would have made a difference during the February 27 dogfight between the MiG-21 Bison and F-16s which had intruded into Indian airspace.

On why the MiG-21 Bison had been used in the dogfight with the intruding Pakistani aircraft, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said the aircraft was in the IAF’s inventory and when an adversary attacks you, every available aircraft is deployed. “The MiG-21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it? I will not comment on the ongoing operation as they are still ongoing. The MiG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded. It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles,” he said.

The Rafale jet should come into India’s inventory by September, the Air Force chief said. “Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed the contract for 36 Rafale jets.”

The IAF Chief told reporters that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet if he was fit. “We don’t take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot,” he said. Wg Cdr Varthaman, who ejected from his MiG-21 Bison on February 27, was captured by Pakistan and later released on March 1.

“Whether he flies again or not depends upon his medical fitness. Post-ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Whatever treatment is required, we will give it to him.

Once he gets medical fitness, he will get into the fighter cockpit,” he said. The Air Chief added: “If he is fit to fly a fighter, then he will go back soon. If he is not fit to fly, he will become a low medical category till the time he gets his currency. He will then go back when he gets his fighter currency back.”

Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, the Air Chief said: “I don’t know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan. If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they violated that end-user agreement.”