Bismillah ir Rahman ar Raheem
I have found those involved with the JF-17 program have been very honest and accurate in what they have said (including the current Air Chief Marshall).
You can ask Oscar and Bilal Khan 777 if you need further confirmation on the aircraft's abilities.
Please note that performance is not determined by high Mach numbers or turn rates in one small corner of the performance envelope. The JF-17 can nearly keep up with or out-turn the F-16AMs over a wide speed range. It can also nearly climb with the F-16 in the vertical. Please see the discussion at
https://defence.pk/threads/paf-at-zuhai-airshow-2016.457944/page-16#post-8899271
More relevant is that the JF-17 has an even lower Radar Cross Section (RCS) than the already exemplary F-16 and has slightly longer-ranged radar and missiles than the PAF's current F-16 inventory.
The aircraft has about 80% or better of the endurance and range (with a 2,000 pound bomb load) as the F-16A (and about the same as the F-16C Block 52s without CFTs). Please see
https://defence.pk/threads/jf-17s-ferry-and-combat-ranges.462726/
More importantly, as pointed out above you can pick and choose (or design and engineer) all the avionics and weapons you want to integrate on to it. This is a capability far more useful than any arbitrary metric. After all, you fight with your sword and lance, not your horse - the animal just gets you there. Modern infantry is pre-occupied with their rifles, camouflage, and anti-tank and anti-aircraft defense - they don't care about the performance figures of their trucks and APCs.
[joke] And, most importantly, if PAF gets a lot of JF-17's, maybe MK can go to bed at night without worrying about ensuing nightmares of kill switches hunting him down in his sleep. [/Joke]
Thanks for your interest.
Allah keep everyone safe.