New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met all three chiefs of armed forces and congratulated them after the Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted air strikes in Pakistan’s Balakot, the biggest training camp of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, killing over 350 terrorists, including Jaish chief Masood Azhar's brother-in-law. The meeting with the military chiefs was held after Pakistan said that it will "respond at a time and place of its choosing". Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had held a meeting of the National Security Committee that included the chiefs of all three armed forces and other officials.
Khan asked the armed forces and the people of Pakistan to remain “prepared for all eventualities.” It summoned the Acting Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad. The Pakistani government condemned the air strikes conducted by the IAF in Balakot calling it the “violation of its territorial sovereignty” by fighter jets.
“The Acting Foreign Secretary summoned the Indian Acting High Commissioner and strongly condemned the Indian violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. The statement came after an emergency meeting to review the situation, PTI reported. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said India has committed “aggression” by violating the LoC and Islamabad has “right to self-defence”.
In his statement after the Pulwama terror attack, Imran Khan had said the country would act if India gave "actionable intelligence" against terrorists based in the country. He had warned India that Pakistan would retaliate if India indulged in any "misadventure".
On Tuesday afternoon, PM Modi had said at a rally in Rajasthan's Churu: "I assure you, the country is in safe hands."
More than 350 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, Fidayeen and their trainers, were killed as IAF used 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets in a five-star, resort style camp in a hilltop forest in Balakot in Pakistan on early Tuesday morning according to sources. Hundreds of Fidayeen and their trainers were shifted from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to the camp in Balakot after the Pulwama attack, providing Indian forces with "a sitting duck target" when they carried out an air strike early Tuesday.
They said at least 325 terrorists and 25 to 27 trainers were at the camp, the biggest operated by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which had claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir that killed 40 jawans.
Everyone at the camp was sleeping and Pakistani defence establishment had no clue that the attack was coming so deep into their country because they had expected a surgical strike on camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir near the Line of Control, said the sources who are close to the government.
