New Delhi:
A former Pakistani diplomat admitted on a news tv show that 300 terrorists had died in the Balakot airstrike by India on February 26, 2019.
The admission by the former Pakistani diplomat Agha Hilaly who routinely requires the Pakistan Army side in Television debates, goes against the zero casualties claim produced by Islamabad at that time.
Soon soon after Indian Air Force had carried out a strike at a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror coaching camp at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, as a face-saving measure, had refused to acknowledge the presence of terrorists who have been killed throughout the airstrike.
The strike was in response to the terror attack in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives. Pakistan-primarily based JeM claimed the duty for the February 14 attack, which has been largely condemned by the international neighborhood.
“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. 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,” stated Agha Hilaly.
Mr Hilaly was speaking throughout a debate on a Pakistani Urdu channel.
This revelation by the former Pakistan diplomat comes months soon after the remarks of Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Ayaz Sadiq, who in October 2020, stated in the country’s National Assembly that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in an critical meeting had pointed out that if Pakistan did not release Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, India would attack Pakistan “that night by 9 pm”.
He had revealed why Imran Khan’s government decided to release Mr Varthaman, saying Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa’s “legs were shaking” although Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the meeting of parliamentary leaders that India was about to attack their nation.
Mr Varthaman’s plane had crossed more than to the Pakistani side throughout a dogfight with Pakistani planes on February 27, 2019. He returned to India from the Attari-Wagah border on March 1, 2019.