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The Pakistan Army on Monday said India has failed to provide any evidence of downing a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet during the February 27 aerial combat over Nowshera in Jammu and Kashmir, despite claiming that it has proof of the incident.
The statement came hours after the Indian Air Force on Monday released radar images as part of its “irrefutable evidence” to assert that it shot down an F-16 fighter jet of Pakistan during the airstrike.
In a tweet, Pakistani military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said, “Repetitions don’t make truth of a lie. Despite claiming possession of evidence on shooting F16, IAF still short of presenting it.”
Graphic captures from an airborne warning and control system (AWACS) were shown by the IAF in New Delhi at a media briefing, reiterating that it has credible evidence that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) lost an F-16 fighter jet in the aerial engagement.
The IAF had issued a similar statement on Friday asserting that it shot down an F-16 in Nowshera sector after leading American magazine ‘Foreign Policy’ reported that a US count of the F-16s with Pakistan has found that none of them are missing.
Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor, the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations and Space), said the IAF has more credible information and evidence that is clearly indicative of the fact that PAF has lost one F-16 in the air action on February 27.
“However, due to security and confidentiality concerns, we are restricting the information being shared in the public domain.” India has been maintaining that IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman had engaged with one of the Pakistani F-16s and shot it down before his Mig-21 Bison was downed, but Pakistan has denied losing any aircraft in the combat.
Varthaman was captured by Pakistan and was released after spending nearly 60 hours in Pakistani custody. Ghafoor also reiterated that Pakistan destroyed two Indian jets and claimed the “wreckage seen on ground by all”.
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Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that India conducted action on the Pakistan-based terror training camp in Balakot on February 26 with utmost caution and responsibility to ensure only terrorists were impacted and no civilian was harmed.
In an exclusive interview to ANI, Rajnath Singh underlined the fact that India had no intention to cause civilian casualties or get into direct confrontation with Pakistani forces while carrying out air strikes on Balakot.
“Indian Air Force only attacked terrorist camps. We made sure that there should be no attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty and integrity. We did not kill any innocent human in our strikes. We only attacked terrorist training centres,” the Home Minister said.
The Home Minister’s remarks come amid heightened tension between New Delhi and Islamabad following February 14 Pulwama terrorist attack by Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist on a security convoy in which 44 CRPF personnel were killed.
The two countries were close to having dangerous confrontation following Balakot airstrikes of February 26, when the Indian Air Force aircraft crossed the Line of Control to attack the JeM base camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
On being asked, how correct it is to demand proof from armed forces about the air strikes, Rajnath Singh said: “Why should one ask for proof from IAF, who bombed the terrorist centre only. Should they count the bodies and give proof? As a Home Minister of the country I am saying that the operation in Balakot took place on the basis of credible intelligence input.”
When asked that the international community is still not accepting India’s stand that Pakistan used F-16 to attack Indian Air Force, Rajnath Singh said: “No international community has denied it. Pentagon itself has contradicted it. They have denied any reports (published in Foreign Policy magazine) and said no research was done and no US general has made these comment.”
“In addition to that Air Vice Marshal have presented all the proof yesterday that Indian Air Force has downed Pakistan F-16 during a retaliatory firing,” he added.
The Home Minister also made it clear that India was ready to hold talks with Pakistan provided Islamabad “commits” itself to take strong steps to stop terrorism emanating from its soil.
“Whosoever will come from Pakistan, we are ready to talk. But Pakistan has to decide that terrorism and talks cannot proceed together. Pakistan has to commit that it will stop terrorism, and that they will not allow anyone to use their soil to train terrorists,” Rajanth Singh said.
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Addressing a poll rally in Maharashtra’s Latur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that BJP government has ensured that terrorists are identified and killed, even if we have to enter other countries to do so.
“To kill terrorists right in their dens is policy of New India,” he said.
Attacking Opposition, PM Modi said, “Congress is responsible for creation of Pakistan. Congress’s manifesto and Pakistan speak same language on Kashmir related issues. Had pre-Independence Congress leaders acted wisely, ‘this Pakistan’ would not have been created.”
Taking a dig at Pakistan, Modi said first they came in media and said they had two pilots in their captivity but by evening they said they only had one pilot.
“Even a child would know what happen to the second pilot,” he added.
Slamming Congress-NCP alliance for backing separate PM for Jammu and Kashmir, Modi said, “The country has no expectations with Congress party but Sharad sahab you! Does it suit you?”
Referring to Balakot air strike which took place in the wake of Pulwama attack, Modi said that people should dedicate their first vote to those who carried out air strike.
“We didn’t talk of air strike in manifesto, but carried it out when warranted,” PM Modi added.
”They say chowkidar chor hai; but from whom are note bundles seized,” Modi targets Cong.
Health
Patients related to heart diseases often experience difficulty in thinking and likely suffer depression, a new study explains. The study published in the Journal ‘Scientific Reports’, also points out prevention for the same.
“Neurosurgeons always look in the brain; cardiologists always look in the heart. This new study looked at both,” said Martino, working in the field of circadian medicine.
This study is first of its kind done on mice that test how cognition and mood are regulated by body clock and how pertinent brain regions are impaired in heart failure.
“Human patients with heart failure often have neurological conditions such as cognitive impairment and depression,” said Martino.
For this new study, the researchers compared normal mice with mice carrying a mutation in their circadian mechanism (called “clock mice”). They found that the mutation affected the structure of neurons in brain areas important for cognition and mood.
The results show that the circadian mechanism influences neural effects of heart failure, said Martino. Pointing out that no cure exists for the heart condition; she said understanding how the circadian mechanism works in the brain may lead to new strategies to improve patients’ quality of life.
“If we’re not yet able to cure heart failure, we should at least be focusing on how we can improve quality of life for patients,” added Martino.
Health
A recent study has observed that drugs which are used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension, like sildenafil (Viagra) and vardenafil (Levitra), can stop the reaction in PDE6 resulting in side effects affecting vision.
In the study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers have captured for the first time, the full-length structure of the rod photoreceptor phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE6), an enzyme that plays an indispensable role in human vision.
“PDE5 inhibitors are associated with several visual side effects, including blurred vision, changes in colour vision, extreme sensitivity to light, and in extreme cases, damage to the optic nerve that relays optical signals to the brain. These side effects are caused by the binding of PDE5 inhibitors to PDE6 in the retina,” said Sahil Gulati, the lead researcher.
PDEs are associated with various diseases and are targets of several widely used drugs and major targets for drug development. Unfortunately, many of these enzymes have similar structures, particularly their catalytic domains, where the chemical reaction takes place.
Because of this, inhibitors that target one type of PDE can stop the reaction in multiple members of the PDE family, resulting in unwanted side effects. Several cases of patients experiencing vision changes after using sildenafil citrate have been reported.
Researchers used single-particle cryo-electron microscopy to visualise the full-length PDE6 enzyme. They revealed fish-hook-like regions of the PDE6 structure that forms potential signal transduction routes from the regulatory domains of PDE6 to its catalytic domain.
“The high-resolution images we were able to capture clearly underscore the immense hidden beauty of human vision and reveal several features of PDE6 that were previously unseen,” said Gulati.
“Included among them were some very promising regions of PDE6 that resemble fish-hooks. These regions are responsible for controlling PDE activity. By targeting the fish-hook-like region with a new class of PDE inhibitors, drug development companies may be able to eliminate unwanted side effects of certain PDE targeting drugs,” added Gulati.
