There has been an outpouring of support from across the nation soon after an article published in American news daily Foreign policy claimed that India’s claim that its fighter jet MIG-21 Bison shot down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet in an aerial dogfight in February may be false. The report quoted two senior US defence officials with direct knowledge of the situation saying, “the US personnel recently counted Islamabad’s F-16s and found none missing”. On the contrary, the Indian government had claimed a day after Balakot air strikes, on February 27, Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman shot down a Pakistani fighter jet that tried to target Indian military facilities.

In the aerial fight, Varthaman’s fighter jet was hit that forced him to eject. The IAF pilot then landed across the Line of Control and was in the custody of Pakistan for three days. On March 1, 2019, Varthaman was returned to India.