Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday claimed 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.
His comments came minutes after the 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, Khan said that better sense must prevail and the two sides should act with wisdom.
"I ask India: with the weapons you have and the weapons we have, can we really afford a miscalculation? If this (situation) escalates, it will no longer be in my control or in (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi's," Khan said.
"Let's sit together and settle this with talks," he added.
Pakistan had earlier claimed that it shot down two Indian military aircraft over Pakistani air space and arrested two pilots.
Pakistani military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said two IAF pilots were arrested. One pilot is injured and has been shifted to a hospital, while another one is unhurt, the spokesman added. The spokesman also showed items and documents of the arrested pilots.
Addressing a press conference, he said one of the aircraft crashed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir while the other fell in Jammu and Kashmir.
"This morning PAF (Pakistan Air Force) jets while remaining in Pakistani airspace engaged six targets across the LoC," he said.
"Our pilots locked on those six targets and we struck on open places," he said, adding that it was decided that the PAF will not hit military targets.
He said some of the targets were in Bhimber galli and Naran area where the supply depots were engaged from a distance.
"After the PAF strikes, 2 IAF jets entered Pakistani airspace and the PAF took them on and the two IAF were shot down. The wreckage of one (aircraft) fell inside Pakistan (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) while the second fell inside India," Ghafoor said.
"Original targets were military posts and administrative facilities but we did not target those," he said.
The spokesman claimed that target engaged by the PAF were changed to avoid any loss of life.
"It was not retaliation in the true sense but it was an action to show that we can retaliate. We do not want to push the region to war. We want peace," he said.
He also rejected reports that Pakistan used F-16 fighters and one of them was destroyed.
"Pakistan does not want to go for war, our message is peace. The international community should also play it role," the spokesman said.
"What we did today is in self-defence. We do not want to celebrate it, as war is victory of none as only humanity loses in war," he said.
He said war is also a failure of policy.
"We do not want to escalate but we want to follow the path to peace," he said, adding that the people of both countries and the region should live in pace.
"If you want peace then let us talk. No issue can be resolved through war. India should think about this offer with a cool mind," he added.
At least forty Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in a suicide attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14, sparking outrage in the country.
Following the incident, India on Tuesday bombed and destroyed JeM's biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC) early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.
