With news of two drones hitting a heavily guarded air base in Jammu, India media went into overdrive to blame Pakistan, and it was not unexpected. After all, the pride of Indian Military, the Indian Air Force(IAF), which gobbles billions of dollars every year is a big burden on the exchequer. IAF consumes almost 23 percent of the 70 billion dollars allocated for defence. In 2020 and 2021, IAF surpassed the Army and Navy in biting the allocation for so-called modernisation budget.
As reported by the Stimson Centre in February this year, analysts recorded an overall defence modernisation budget of USD $12.48 billion in 2020, with the IAF provided the highest budget of USD $5.36 billion. India also signed significant strategic defence and security cooperation agreements with major and emerging powers. Moreover, the Indian military heavily overspent and made emergency purchases due to the ongoing confrontation with China. Specifically, the IAF overspent by USD $1.61 billion, the Navy by $1.49 billion, and the Army by $112.62 million.
So far no one has accepted responsibility for these drone attacks on IAF; irrespective of the fact that these may be part of the false flag operations, IAF has been badly smacked by Indian media. This may be justified due to the poor track record of IAF during its skirmish with Pakistan Air Force in February 2019 and its inability to warn the Indian political leadership about the Chinese build up in Ladakh last year.
The questions being raised against the IAF as well as Indian intelligence agencies is why they were caught napping when two drones or balloons dropped explosives right at the centre of a heavily guarded air base. Some channels and defence experts have demanded for accountability of the top military and political leadership.
Some analysts wanted to declare it as an act of war and teach Pakistan a lesson; a few suggested that IAF should be allocated more funds to help in surveillance against drones. It is unfortunate that two small drones, or balloons, have caused so much panic in the military ranks of the third largest military powers and turned the IAF into a laughing stock.
It may be interesting to recall the circus run by Indian media after PAF’s Swift Retort in February 2019, taking help from our article published in an English daily we will try to link the current state of IAF with that of 2019. The February 27 counterstrike by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), which shot down two IAF intruders, including Wing Commander Abhinandan (some social media activists call him “Abhi none done”), shattered many myths regarding the Indian armed forces and the false aura they had created in the past 20 years.
With the Balakot tree strike, which killed a brave Pakistani crow and injured 10 trees, Indian politico leadership started a blitz of lies and deceits and as “Abhi none done” was “undone” by the PAF and was escorted across the Wagah border in shame; this charade of lies and deceit became a shameless cover-up. Unlike a head of any professional force, former IAF chief Dhanoa was forced to become the face of this cover-up. Despite all the twists and fake stories telling the brave intrusion of Abhinandan and shooting down a PAF F-16, the international experts on air warfare did not buy the Indian charade of lies and Dhanoa had to do a catwalk with Abhinandan till the last day to keep up the IAF’s morale.
Indian military hawks chattering on the Godi media must know that Kashmir freedom struggle is a continuous process—it may appear to be under control, but the Kashmiri youth is alive and kicking. They will continue to defy Indian occupation and challenge the Indian defence forces, who illegally occupy their land and oppress millions of Kashmiris through draconian laws. Kashmiri youth has also watched the historic defiance of Palestinians against Israeli occupation; technology can be innovatively used against a much larger force.
India is forewarned against taking any funny action against Pakistan. We will reemphasise our advice to the Indian military in 2019. Although the Balakot tree strike in 2019 and the PAF counter-strike lasted a few hours, the PAF’s aggressive response sent some very strong strategic signals across the globe. Pakistan conveyed to the world that it can display a sure-footed response based on political intent and was ready to climb the escalation ladder in a nuclear overhang, when it comes to the territorial integrity and honour of the nation. The PAF proved that Indian technological and numerical superiority was a myth and the PAF could dominate the skies over South Asia by displaying superiority over the IAF in technical, technological, training and operational domains. The PAF also displayed unwavering faith in Allah Almighty and the cause of Pakistan.
Pakistan also re-established nuclear deterrence by a quick and bold conventional response, the mere fact that Indian politico military leadership did not venture across the LoC or the international border after 27th February proves that India chickened out in this brinkmanship. Pakistan’s defence forces displayed that a battle-hardened force can compensate for technological or numerical asymmetry, and there is no alternative to experience.
Indian top leadership should also appreciate that it faces a two front situation after Jun 2020, China has already put India in its place and the Indian dream of military coercion of Pakistan has become even more difficult to materialise.
The Indian public must make the Indian military and especially IAF accountable for gobbling tens of billions of dollars and chickening out, when the chips are down.