Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

PAF chief rules out possibility of Pak-India war

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Jan 21, IRNA
Pakistan-War
The Chief of Pakistan Air Force Marshal Kaleem Saadat has ruled out the possibility of 'Pak-India' war.

However, he maintained that Pakistan was fully capable of defending itself.

He was speaking at a function in Karachi on Friday.

According to media reports on Saturday, he said that PAF was focussing on strengthening its reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities, strike power, detection of enemy aircraft, platform to combat and weapons for defence.

The PAF is considering buying a mix new and used F-16 fighter jets, he said and added maintaining a strong and credible defence was expansive, and pointed out that PAF needed hardware worth US dollar 3-4 billion to maintain a minimum deterrence capability.

The PAF head said that various versions of US fighter jet were available to PAF from America.

"We are also considering to buy used F-16 from elsewhere. However, we will prefer a mix of new and old F-16s fighter planes," he said.

He contended that India had withdrawn its forces from the border with Pakistan after nine months as Western countries issued travel advisories asking their citizens not to travel to India in 2002.

After a terror attack on its parliament, India deployed a large number of forces on Pak-India border.

In response, Islamabad also mobilized over 0.2 million troops to the border.

2023/235/2322/1412