Earlier, the Indian Air Force (IAF) claimed that it had lost a MiG-21 fighter but that a Pakistan F-16 jet had also been downed as the two sides engaged in an air battle, just a day after the IAF carried out an airstrike against a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist camp located in the Pakistani-controlled part of the Kashmir region.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has voiced hope that a full-scale military conflict between Islamabad and New Delhi would not take place.
“I hope this does not happen. It would be mutual self-destruction. Pakistan never seeks to escalate the situation and it never seeks to take a hostile position,” Qureshi told CNN.
He recalled that shortly after becoming Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan underscored that if India “takes a step toward peace, we will do two such steps”.