BalakotStrikeCasualty 300 militants killed in India's Balakot strike in Pulwama retaliation, suggests ex-Pakistani diplomat
New Delhi/IBNS: In a major revelation, a former Pakistani diplomat has admitted on a television show that 300 terrorists were killed in the Balkot airstrikes by India on February 26, 2019.
According to a report by news agency ANI, Pakistani diplomat Agha Hilaly, who regularly speaks in support of Pakistani Army in TV debates, made the revelation which is a stark contrast against the zero-casualty claim made by Islamabad.
Pakistan had made the claim of zero-casualty as a face saving measure in an attempt to cover up the presence of terrorists in the area, after India bombed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror training camp at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.
After the Pulwama terror attack on February 14, 2019 in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives, India made the airstrikes in Balakot to avenge the death of the security personnel.
Agha Hilaly said: "India crossed the international border and did an act of war in which at least 300 were reported dead."
"Our target was different from theirs. We targeted their high command. That was our legitimate target because they are men of the military," the Pakistani diplomat was quoted as saying in the ANI report.
"We subconsciously accepted that a surgical strike -- a limited action -- did not result in any casualty. Now we have subconsciously told them that, whatever they will do, we'll do only that much and won't escalate," said Agha Hilaly.
The comments were made in a programme in Urdu channel months after Pakistan lawmaker of Muslim League-N (PML-N) Ayaz Sadiq had said in a parliament address that Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Jawed Bajwa's legs were shaking when the country's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the lawmakers in a meeting February last year that India would attack if Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was not released.
“I remember Shah Mahmood Qureshi was in the meeting in which Imran Khan had refused to attend and Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa came into the room, his legs were shaking and he was perspiring. Foreign Minister said for God’s sake let Abhinandan go, India’s about to attack Pakistan at 9 PM," said Sadiq, reported Pakistan's Dunya News.
Soon after, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced that Pakistan was releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan as a sign of “goodwill gesture”.
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