Updated: May 1, 2025 11:44 AM IST 
As New Delhi prepares for counter attack against Pakistan for Pahalgam terror attack, people are reminiscing about India’s glorious victory in Balakot air strike and its hero – Indian Air Force’s Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet with a MiG-21 Bison fighter plane after the Balakot airstrike.
However, during this time his jet was also damaged and he accidentally fell on enemy land. The Pakistani army captured him, but after 60 hours Pakistan had to return him safely to India. Actually at that time Pakistan was living in the shadow of fear that India might attack them directly.
Abhinandan was released due to fear of India
If reports are to be believed, Pakistan’s former foreign minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif himself had revealed that Pakistan had released Abhinandan due to fear of India. Not only this, former speaker of Pak Assembly Ayaz Sadiq had also admitted that after capturing Abhinandan, Pakistan was afraid that if India attacked them, the country would be destroyed. But do you know who was the pilot flying the Pakistani F-16 jet at that time and what happened to him? Let’s find out.
Who flew the F-16?
London-based lawyer Khalid Umar had claimed in his Facebook post about six years ago that the pilot of the Pakistani F-16 aircraft that crashed in PoK after attacking Jammu and Kashmir was beaten to death by the mob mistaking him to be an Indian. According to him, the F-16 was being flown by Shahzaduddin, a pilot of the 19th Squadron of the Pakistani Air Force.
What happened to that Pakistani pilot
If we believe Umar’s post, he had written that “It is sad that the Pakistani pilot was alive after ejecting in PoK, but the crowd mistook him for an Indian and beat him up badly. When they later got the news that he was their own man, then people took Shahjaz to the hospital where he died. He was the son of a retired Air Marshal. Abhinandan and Shahjaz both fought in the sky, but neither of them survived.”
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