Shoddy editing exposes Pakistan ploy to use Wg Cdr Abhinandan for propaganda

The two-minute propaganda video which has at least 20 edits was released on the day when two years ago Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-16 in a dogfight over the Line of Control before his MiG-21 Bison fighter crash-landed in Pakistan.

Anish Kumar

New Delhi, First Published Feb 27, 2021, 12:30 PM IST | Last Updated Feb 27, 2021, 12:30 PM IST

Pakistan Army's Inter-Services Public Relations unit has released a new propaganda video of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the fighter pilot who was captured during the 2019 India–Pakistan standoff and later released.

The two-minute propaganda video which has at least 20 edits was released on the day when two years ago Wing Commander Varthaman shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-16 in a dogfight over the Line of Control before his MiG-21 Bison fighter crash-landed in Pakistan.

He was taken into custody and was released later.

The propaganda video is Pakistan's attempt to project itself in a positive light and to deflect attention from the atrocities perpetrated by its troops in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Balochistan.

But the shoddy editing gives away the Pakistan Army's ploy.

On February 14, 2019, a total of 40 CRPF soldiers were killed after a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. A probe revealed that the attack was the work of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists.

Twelve days later on February 26, the fighter aircraft of IAF dropped bombs at the Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The next day, Pakistan attempted to retaliate but IAF fighter aircraft thwarted their attempt.

Defence experts said that the airstrike made a paradigm shift in the strategic stance India had taken thus far and also had global acclaim.

Talking to Asianet Newsable, former Indian Air Force officer and defence expert Gp Capt Sundeep Mehta (Retd) said, "After the successful surgical strikes by Indian Army earlier, there was a huge anticipation of wider action on ground, to the extent that surgical strikes were even touted as 'one off', in certain quarters. The Balakot airstrikes had a huge impact for their political signalling and ability to create wider global tremors."

Talking about the possible use of nuclear weapons by Pakistan, Gp Capt Mehta said, "The nuclear power bogey that Pakistan had imagined to be its trump card for far too long was instantly deflated by the airstrikes."

Questioning the effectiveness of the strikes was just a face-saver that Pakistan was forced to stage-manage after the knockout punch it received, aimed mostly to its own constituency, he said.

"India's resolve to go the distance, should the need arise, has also helped galvanise the Indian forces like a force-multiplier," the expert added.

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