Heena Sharma Blog

French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler on Thursday dismissed as "fake news" reports that a batch of Pakistani pilots were trained on Rafale fighter jets being procured by Qatari Air Force. American aviation industry website ainonline.com reported that the first batch of pilots trained on the Rafale fighter jet for Qatar in November 2017 were Pakistani exchange officers. "I can confirm that it is fake news," Ziegler tweeted. French diplomatic sources said no Pakistani pilots ever trained on Rafale jets in France. There were concerns in the Indian military establishment after the report by the US-based website. The report came in the midst of a simmering political slugfest over procurement of Rafale jets by the Modi government from France. India is procuring a batch of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore. The Congress has been alleging massive irregularities in the deal while the government has strongly rejected the charges.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of acting as a middleman of Anil Ambani in the Rafale jet deal , as he cited an e-mail to claim the businessman was aware of the MoU before India and France signed it. Ambani's knowledge of a defence deal under preparation, which even the then defence minister had said he was not aware of, is in violation of the Official Secrets Act, Gandhi alleged at a press conference, and said this "puts Modi in jail". Only Modi could have told Ambani about the deal in advance, he alleged. "This is treason. He (Modi) is doing what spies do," Gandhi said. Ambani had met the French defence minister days before the signing of the deal during Modi's visit to France in 2015, Gandhi said, quoting from an e-mail written by an Airbus executive to a French official. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard