Hours after the air-strike on Balakot, Pakistan admitted that Indian Air Force (IAF) bombarded in their territory. Local witnesses too have confirmed that the Indian air strike indeed took place. Speaking of the infiltration of Indian Air Force, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stated, “This was grave aggression by India against Pakistan. This is a violation of LoC and Pakistan has the right to retaliate and self defence”.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi: This was grave aggression by India against Pakistan. This is a violation of LoC and Pakistan has the right to retaliate and self defence pic.twitter.com/dSDS8GFH3x
— ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019
While in an interaction with state-owned Pakistan Television, Shah Mehmood Qureshi also urged, “We had told the world community that such a step could be taken by India”. However, it seems like mere bravado, as the international community has supported the action taken by the Indian Air Force.
Prior to this, the Indian Army shot down a Pakistani drone last night in Kutch area of Gujarat. The drone was shot down in Ambasa village and police and defence forces arrived there to examine it afterwards.
According to ANI, the air-strike took place at 3:30 AM, when 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets crossed the LoC and destroyed one of the primitive terror training camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Though Pakistan is trying to claim that there was no damage on its side, the IAF fighter jets had reportedly dropped 1,000 kg bombs in Pakistan.
Sources further claimed that a big ammunition dump was blown up in Balakot by IAF Mirages. The dump had more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds hand grenades, explosives and detonators, said sources.
Intel Sources: Ammunition dump blown up today in Balakot,Pakistan by IAF Mirages. The dump had more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds hand grenades, explosives and detonators pic.twitter.com/b7ENbKgYaH
— ANI (@ANI) February 26, 2019
Pakistan Army and media are denying the attacks that they always do; however, speaking of the details of the air-strike, Vijay Keshav Gokhale, Foreign Secretary (FS) of India, stated that India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot. A large number of JeM terrorists were killed. The strike avoided civilian casualties.
Emphasizing on the fact that JeM was targeted specifically, Gokhale continued, “This action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. We avoided civilian casualties with the selection of the camp. The attack was ‘non-military’ strike which took place in a thickly-forested area.”
In his press briefing, Gokhale specifically mentioned the name of Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri. He added that the camps that were targeted in the strike were commanded by Ustad Ghauri. Moreover, Maulana Yusuf Azhar is the brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar.
It is the habit of Pakistan to deny the infiltration of Indian defence forces. They had denied the Uri surgical strike for a long time, in order to mislead their people. Surprisingly, this time they have accepted the air-strike. It is a good initiative to the part of Pakistan that they started acknowledging the Airforce attacks, soon they will accept that they are the motherland of terrorism.
