Pakistan Army doesn't think Indian Air Force carried out a strike, but promises to retaliate

After the Indian Air Force's air strikes on the terrorist camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed in the early hours of February 26, the countries have continued to engage in a war of words. While India said that around 350 terrorists were killed, Pakistan refuted the claims. The Director General (DG) of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asif Ghafoor refuted details of the air strike altogether but added that Pakistan would retaliate and that India should brace for a surprise.

"Now it's our time to respond. The response will come at the time and place of our choosing," he added. The DG also challenged India to try and spend 21 minutes in the Pakistani airspace. "They are claiming that they remained in the Pakistani airspace for 21 minutes and killed 350 terrorists. They claim that the second strike was in Muzaffarabad and the third in Chakothi. Allah almighty is the greatest and we should not make tall claims, but come and try to spend 21 minutes in Pakistani airspace," the DG said. "Indian claim is totally false and fabricated, media will be taken to the site to show them the truth," he added.

The DG also said that they were observing the movements of the Indian forces, adding that safeguards were in place on land. "So if they had tried an on-ground incursion, they would have met the response that we had planned," he added. DG Ghafoor said that the Indian Air Force was seen approaching the border but the Combat Air Patrol team approached and challenged them, following which they refrained from crossing the border.

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"As per the SOP (standard operating procedure), when the first team got committed there, the next CAP team automatically was airborne. During this, another one of their formation was picked in Bahawalpur sector. The second standby team went down south and challenged it. We then observed that the heavier of their teams was approaching Muzaffarabad sector from Kiran Valley. When our third CAP team challenged them, they had crossed the LoC. Their approaching of the border, the challenge and their return took four minutes," he said.

Blaming the Modi government, the DG said that India deliberately targets civil population and that if they India had engaged the armies, then their soldiers were ready to retaliate. "They wanted to target a place where civilians could have died, so they could claim that they targeted a terrorist camp," he said. The DG said that the job of the ground troops is to ascertain if anything has fallen but when the Indian Air Force left they found that there were no strikes.

"They are claiming that they killed 350 terrorists; I say even if they had killed 10, what about their bodies, their funerals, their blood... the spot is open for anybody and everybody: for ambassadors, defence attaches, UN military observer group in Pakistan," the Major General concluded.

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