We Shot Down 2 Of Your Jets, Let’s Talk Now: Pak PM

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said that two Indian MIGs crossed the Line of Control and they were shot down, as he offered to defuse tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours and resolve the issues through talks.

"Our action was only intended to convey that if you can come into our country, we can do the same. Two of their MiGs were shot down (in the ensuing action)," Khan said in a live TV address soon after it emerged that his armed forces had held at least one Indian Air Force pilot captive..

Pakistan said it downed two Indian jets in its airspace and captured two pilots, one of whom they seemingly paraded - blindfolded and bloodied - for the camera. 

The pilot, named as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, is seen in a video of what appears to be an interview at a Pakistani Air base, in which he refuses to reveal any information about his capture - or captors.

India confirmed the loss of one of its planes and said it had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet, in a conflict played out over the skies of Kashmir.

Earlier External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi said that Pakistan Air Force targeted military installations in India in response to "Indian counter-terrorism operations" but their attempts were foiled successfully though one Indian pilot is "missing in action".

Noting that all wars are miscalculated, and no one knows where they lead to, Pakistan PM said that better sense must prevail and the two sides should act with wisdom.

Khan urged for 'wisdom and better sense' as he opened up for talks with Indian leaders saying: 'If escalation begins from here, where will it go?'

"I want to now address India and say let sanity prevail. Let's think sensibly. All wars in the world have been started on miscalculations on the time and the human cost of war. This was the same with the First World War, with the Second World War, the war on terror, the Vietnam War. The history of the world shows us wars have always been miscalculation."

He added, "I ask India; with our weapons capability.... on both sides, can we afford a miscalculation? It will neither be in my control or Narendra Modi's. The hurt that has been caused due to the Pulwama attack, we want to come to the table and talk about terrorism that affects us both. We are ready. Let better sense prevail."

He said that he had expected India to attack Pakistan after the Pulwama attack. Khan said, "I had an apprehension that India would take some action. That is why in my earlier speech I had stated that if India takes action, then we will retaliate. Because no sovereign country will allow another country to attack it. I was also apprehensive because India have elections. That's why when India took against yesterday, we waited today we took action."

He said that his forces did not retaliate yesterday because it wanted to ascertain the damage caused by the Indian Air Force. He said that it would have been wrong for his country to inflict casualties on India when the Indian Air Force did not cause any casualties in its air strikes.

"It was our plan to not cause any collateral damage, and not to cause any casualties. We simply wanted to show capability, he said.

Khan said that his forces had shot down two Indian MiG planes and taken two pilots captive. He said, "Two Indian MiGs crossed Pakistan's borders, and we shot them down. I also want to state that the pilots are with us."

He told Pakistani people that the purpose of his address to the nation was to keep them informed about the tension with India. Khan continued, "I wanted to take you into confidence regarding the situation arising since yesterday. We offered India that we are ready to cooperate with them in any kind of investigation after the Pulwama attack."

Stating that Pakistan itself was a victim of terrorism, Khan said, "We know how the families of those killed in Pulwama incident must have felt. We've lost more than 70,000 people in the last 10 years. We have been the victims of war for decades. I have been to hospitals visiting survivors of bomb attacks, the ones who are left behind, who are maimed and left crippled. We know what war means. That's why we made a direct offer to India that if you want any investigation and if any Pakistani is involved, then Pakistan is ready to cooperate with you whole-heartedly. The reason why I said this was because it is never in the interest of Pakistan for it to be used as a base for militancy."

The Indian government on Wednesday said that one of its pilots was missing. This was after Pakistani TV channels paraded a man referring him as Wing Commander Abhinandan, who was the pilot of MiG 21.