Pak social media shares video of pilot injured in Bengaluru Aero Show as that of IAF Pilot
Earlier today, the spokesperson of the Pakistani Armed Forces claimed on his Twitter account that Pakistan had shot down two Indian airforce planes inside Pakistani airspace and had arrested one Indian air-force pilot. At the time of writing, no confirmation of this claim has come from the Indian airforce or the Indian Government. However, a video now made viral by multiple Pakistani social media accounts is being shared with the claims that it depicts the arrested Indian air-force pilot. A page called Pak Army has circulated this video and it has been shared over 18,000 times.
The same video has also been shared from the Twitter account of one Dr Shahid Masood who claims to be the President of Airwaves Media group in his Twitter bio.
2nd Indian Pilot Arrested Alive... pic.twitter.com/TaYWNCCljY
— Dr Shahid Masood (@Shahidmasooddr) February 27, 2019
What is the truth?
Alt News looked up this video and found that it is being circulated in the Pakistani social media ecosystem with a false context. The video dates back to Feb 19, 2019, a day prior to Aero Show in Bangalore, when two Surya Kiran aircrafts crashed during rehearsal. The crash resulted in the death of one pilot and two other pilots were injured.
After the crash, a heartwarming video emerged on social media which showed a civilian comforting the injured pilot Vijay Shelke who had parachuted out of his jet. The video that is being circulated is that of the injured pilot Vijay Shelke, and the civilian trying to comfort him.
Yesterday, Alt News covered a series of misinformation that was shared on Indian mainstream media and social media post the IAF strikes in the Balakot region of Pakistan. Today, we are observing a similar pattern in the Pakistan mainstream media and social media ecosystem.
Courtesy: www.altnews.in
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Russian military hardware, spare parts for Indian military to be manufactured in India
New Delhi (PTI): Russia agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of military hardware and spare parts for maintenance of Russian-origin arms and defence equipment.
Ways to bolster overall bilateral defence cooperation figured prominently during summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
It has been a long-standing grievance of armed forces that the supply of critical spares and equipment from Russia takes a long time, affecting the maintenance of military systems procured from that country.
"Both sides agreed to encourage joint manufacturing in India of spare parts, components, aggregates and other products for maintenance of Russian origin arms and defence equipment under Make-in-India programme through transfer of technology," a joint statement said.
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It said both sides also agreed to set up joint ventures for meeting the needs of the Indian armed forces as well as subsequent export to mutually friendly third countries.
The joint statement said the India-Russia defence partnership is being reoriented to take up joint co-development and co-production of advanced defence technology and systems.
In their meeting on Thursday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov resolved to expand bilateral defence cooperation.
In the meeting, the Indian side showed keen interest in procurement of additional batches of S-400 missile systems from Moscow to bolster its combat prowess.
In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
Three squadrons have already been delivered.
The S-400 systems played a crucial role during Operation Sindoor. India may also look at procuring the S-500 missile systems from Russia.
In the Modi-Putin talks, the two sides also agreed to continue jointly developing systems of bilateral trade settlements through the use of national currencies.
Additionally, the two sides agreed to continue their consultations on enabling the interoperability of the national payment systems, financial messaging systems, as well as central bank digital currency platforms.
Modi and Putin appreciated the ongoing intensification of the joint work on a free trade agreement on goods between India and the Eurasian Economic Union, covering sectors of mutual interest, the joint statement said.
They also directed both sides to intensify efforts in negotiations on a mutually beneficial agreement on the promotion and protection of investment, it said.
India and Russia also welcomed steps to ensure long-term supply of fertilisers to India and discussed the potential establishment of joint ventures in this area.
