Representative image of F-16.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
Mumbai: Veteran politician Prakash Ambedkar, who is the grandson of Constitution of India’s chief architect Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, has requested the Indian government to take up with the United States the issue of deployment of F-16 fighters by Pakistan.
According to reports, the Pakistan Air Force has used F-16, the supersonic multirole fighter aircraft during the current conflict with India.
“The F-16s were given by the US with strict end-use restrictions. Under the US agreements, Pakistan cannot use F-16s or their American-supplied munitions for offensive operations against India,” said Ambedkar, a veteran lawyer-politician-activist, who is the founder of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi.
“Pakistan has used US-supplied F-16 in operations against India. This is a gross violation,” said Ambedkar, a former two-time Lok Sabha MP and one-term Rajya Sabha MP.
Ambedkar requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar to take up the issue with United States President Donald Trump.
“Pakistan and its evil designs should be exposed to the whole world,” he said.
Ambedkar also asked the Centre to expose the false claims of the Pakistani establishment.
“Pakistan is spreading misinformation on social media and claiming that they shot down an IAF Rafale jet. India should strongly expose these lies and false claims made by Pakistan to boost the morale of the Indian Armed Forces,” he said.
“India should use all its diplomatic efforts to alienate and isolate Pakistan as the axis of evil. Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism and it should be regionally and economically isolated. And, if Pakistan escalates the situation, India should not hesitate to give a strong response,” he said.