The French ambassador in India has responded to outrage on social media over a report in an international aviation website claiming Pakistani pilots had begun training on Rafale jets meant for Qatar in 2017.
Taking to Twitter, French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler said, “I can confirm that it is fake news” in response to tweets triggered by the news report. Ziegler responded after Indrani Bagchi, a journalist, tagged the French embassy in India on a series of tweets on Pakistan potentially having access to the Rafale by Yusuf Unjhawala, a defence expert.
In February, Aviation International News had published an article about the first Rafale fighter for Qatar being delivered. In the article was a line that stated, “The first batch of pilots trained for Qatar in November 2017 were Pakistani exchange officers.”
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The snippet on Pakistani pilots training on the Rafale, two years before the Indian Air Force takes delivery of the first of its 36 jets, was reportedly first highlighted by a Pakistani defence website on Wednesday. It triggered uproar on social media on Thursday.