Doval holds talks with US NSA amid Indo-Pak tension

NEW DELHI, dhns: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday conveyed to his US counterpart John Bolton that New Delhi would expect Washington DC to conduct a probe into alleged use of American F-16 aircraft by Pakistan Air Force for intrusion into the air space of India last week.

Doval and Bolton spoke over the phone and discussed the security situation in the region in the wake of the escalation of tension between India and Pakistan after Indian Air Force's strike on terror camps inside Pakistan on February 26 and Pakistan Air Force's retaliatory intrusion into Indian airspace on February 27.

New Delhi has already shared with the American government the pictures of the fragments of the AIM-120 C-5 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (with markings FA-8675-05-C-0070), which was fired from an F-16 fighter aircraft of PAF targeting a military installation in India. The missile manufactured by US firm Raytheon can only be fired from an F-16 fighter aircraft.

The defence attaché of the US Embassy in New Delhi had also been shown the fragments of the missile in order to drive home the point that the PAF had indeed used the F-16 aircraft for targeting military installations in India.

India has since long been asking the US to desist from entering into any defence deal with Pakistan that could alter the military balance in the region.

Doval also reassured Bolton that India's Army, Navy and Air Force were not preparing to carry out any other military offensive against Pakistan.

He conveyed to US NSA that the Pakistan government was making false claims about India's preparations for more military offensives against Pakistan in order to deflect attention from the existence of the camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, which had carried out the February 14 suicide bombing on CRPF personnel at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

Doval and Bolton also discussed the latest initiative launched by the US, France and UK to bring JeM chief Masood Azhar under the United Nations sanctions.