IAF chief hails national leadership for Abhinandan's quick

Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa on Friday credited the national leadership for getting back Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in record time after his capture by Pakistan during military confrontation in February.

He also said the Indian Air Force (IAF) is ready for any military confrontation with Pakistan, but a decision about this has to be taken by the political leadership.

The 36-year-old IAF pilot Abhinandan was captured by the Pakistani Army on February 27 after his MiG-21 Bison jet was shot down in a dogfight with Pakistani jets during aerial combat, a day after the air-strikes on terror camps at Balakot deep inside the neighbouring country.

Before his jet was hit, he downed an F-16 fighter of Pakistan. Abhinandan was released on the night of March 1 by Pakistan.

Speaking at the India Today conclave here, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said he knew Abhinandan since he was a child as he has worked with his father, who was an IAF veteran.

"In Kargil, we lost Flight Commander Ajay Ahuja. He ejected (from his jet) but after he landed (across the border in Pakistan) he was shot... that was playing in my mind.

"I told Abhinandan's father that we couldn't get Ahuja back but will bring Abhinandan. It is credit to the national leadership that we could get Abhinandan in record time," the IAF chief said.

Asked about his flight with Wing Commander Abhinandan recently, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said, "I wanted to fly one sortie before I hang my uniform. Abhinandan had been medically cleared. He sat in the rear and I sat in the front."
"He was blindfolded in some videos. We knew Ahuja didn't come back. Abhinandan's demeanour, posture, candidness with which he was speaking, speaks highly of his soldierly abilities."
"We would have got the film and the kill. But to substantiate our case, we presented the radar picture and the track vanishing around the same time when Abhinandan was close to it."
Asked about Islamabad all together denying the incident (of F-16 downing), he said, "Pakistan disowned its people in Kargil. The Indian Army buried the bodies with full religious rituals."
"When I took over (as IAF chief) in March 2017, I wrote to my officers that we should be ready to fight a war at short notice if other side decides to. It is a rhetoric for their population. We know what their capability is. It is not a two-front war."