(Image source from: Twitter)

In a press conference, deputy spokesperson of US department of state, Robert Palladino, said the US government has been following the reports Pakistan Air Force using F-16 against India and also mentioned that a statement can't be made on contents of bilateral agreements involving US defense technologies.

He said “We have seen those reports and we’re following that issue very closely.”

“I can’t confirm anything, but as a matter of policy, we don’t publicly comment on the contents of bilateral agreements that we've in this regard involving US defense technologies, nor communications that we've with other countries about that,” he added.

US government continue to urge both countries to have direct communication, he said "Our position is that we continue to urge both sides to continue to take steps to de-escalate the situation, and that includes through direct communication."

He said that US wants Pakistan to abide by its United Nations Security Council commitments to "deny terrorists sanctuary and to block their access to funds".

He responded to question when asked about if the US officials are in touch with India-Pakistan to calm down the situation

"That's with both governments via our embassies in New Delhi and Islamabad, as well as with the Indian and Pakistani embassies here in Washington. That has been sustained, that's been ongoing, and - sometimes we do public diplomacy and sometimes there's a time for private diplomacy, and there's a lot of private diplomacy that's going on right now," Robert said.

On other hand Indian Air Force in a press release once again stressed that Pakistan use of F-16 and elaborated the incidents which took place on February 26 and rubbishes the Pakistan’s claim of shooting down the IAF Su-30 aircraft.

“In the morning of 27 Feb 19, our Air Defence system was on full alert. Build up of PAF aircraft on their side of LoC was noticed in time and additional aircraft were scrambled to tackle the adversary.

In their attempt to attack our ground targets, PAF aircraft were engaged effectively.  From IAF side, Mirage-2000, Su-30 and MiG-21 Bison aircraft were involved in the engagement. PAF aircraft were forced to withdraw in a hurry, which is also evident from large missed distances ofthe weapons dropped by them.

During combat, use of F-16 by PAF and multiple launches of AMRAAM were conclusively observed. Prompt and correct tactical action by Su-30 aircraft, in response to AMRAAM launch, defeated the missile. Parts of the missile fell in area East of Rajouri in J&K, injuring a civilian on ground. Detailed report in this regard has already been released by IAF.

All the Su-30 aircraft engaged in combat landed back safely.  False claim by Pakistan of shooting down a Su-30, appears to be a cover up for loss of its own aircraft”

-Sai Kumar