Interesting But any idea that this is an Indian victory is ludicrous.
I agree. Very many Indians agree. In fact, many retired senior officers of the Indian armed forces have also broken their silence and asked that these events should not be projected falsely for political advantage.
The idea of a victory in the matter of two sets of planes raiding each other's territory is indeed ludicrous. It can occur only to those minds starved of recognition in other respects.
First the claims of another "Surgical strike" were generally not taken seriously by most people who did not have an axe to grind.
Presumably a polite way of stating that Pakistan does not accept that surgical strikes are surgical strikes until and unless so certified by ISPR. That is natural and understandable.
The use of the term, in this instance, is another example of self-serving political spin. However, such occurrences, cross-border raids, are nothing new. On either side.
Taking these raids seriously or not seriously is perhaps more appropriately left to commanders on the ground.
Then the whole business with planes being shot down and claims of F16's being shot down without any real evidence has hardly painted a flattering picture of Indian armed forces.
True.
I suspect the idea was to be like Israel and to drop bombs when you wanted to help win elections, however it has backfired quite badly.
What has emerged clearly is that Pakistan may have done better or worse in the exchanges in the air; that is a moot point. Pakistan has certainly won a great victory in the war of perception, in the information war. That should be a matter of chagrin for the vaunted BJP information war apparatus.
It is not without significance that the Pakistani commander of the information war was first to get his just deserts in terms of military recognition of his worth.
F16 weren’t used for striking India.
But they were to defend Pakistan airspace.
ISPR was talking about the strike in India.
If indians are mixing both points, then nobody can help.
ISPR is naturally careful to say what is needed to be said in appropriate measure and at appropriate intervals. Quite understandable. And something that can be helped, of course.