Army vows to thwart any misadventure by enemy with full might
As the nation celebrated the “Surprise Day”, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said that Pakistan was committed to ensuring peace with all countries, however, was mindful of securing its frontiers.
“While we aim for peace with all, we are mindful of our duty to defend the country,” PM Shehbaz said in a tweet.
The prime minister said, “Today the nation pays rich tribute to PAF for a befitting response to the Indian violation of Pakistan’s air space on the pretext of false flag Pulwama attack.”
He stressed that Pakistan was “mindful” of its defence and said, “Let no one make any mistake about it.”
The Pakistan military leadership has congratulated nation on the completion of four years of Operation Swift Retort while denouncing a cowardly attack by India on Pakistan under the pretext of false flag Pulwama operation on a fictitious target.
In a series of tweets, the DG ISPR wrote: “CJCSC, Services Chiefs & Armed Forces of Pakistan pay tribute to the resilience of nation & resolve of AFs displayed during Operation Swift Retort. Under the pretext of false flag Pulwama attack, India stage managed a cowardly attack on a fictitious target.”
“The daring, resolute & measured response from Pakistan thwarted Indian nefarious designs. Let this day be a reminder that while being a peace-loving nation, Pak AFs are ever ready, not only to defend every inch of motherland, but to take the fight back to the enemy, if ever, aggression is imposed on us. Any delusion resulting into a misadventure will always be met with full might of Pak AFs backed by a resilient nation. Pakistan Zindabad.”
The Indian Air Force launched an aerial strike near ‘Balakot’ on Feb 26, 2019, claiming to target a religious seminary that New-Delhi described as a “militant camp”. They also claimed killing more than 300 terrorists but without sharing any shred of evidence to corroborate the claims.
The well-rehearsed operation involving 20 Mirage 2,000 aircraft carrying spice 2000 and Crystal Maze missiles had the support of Air Borne Early Warning systems. They failed to deliver their payload on the target despite practising on the simulator and pre-fed coordinates on the bombs.
Pulwama attack was completely orchestrated, the defense analysts said, questioning that contrary to the usual practice why there were no road inspecting parties to look for buried IEDs/ uspicious movement along the highway the convoy used.
“Why didn’t the authorities understand that a large convoy (78 buses) would be a tempting target? CRPF had asked the home ministry to allow it to fly the soldiers to Srinagar but why the request was inexplicably declined,” said the analyst.
They further posed the question as to how it was possible that the Indian home ministry took this decision (declining airlifting soldiers) on its own without referring it to PM Office.
On other hand, PM Modi wanted to achieve electoral gains which were then scheduled for April/ May 2019 as was evident from his Pakistan bashing fiery speeches during the election campaign.
A hyper-nationalist and religiously indoctrinated political party that spewed fascism and xenophobia would take some ‘punitive’ measures and use the incident as an electoral card since Indian general elections were to be held on that year, the analysts added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Feb 15, 2019, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that those responsible for Pulwama terror attack would pay “a very heavy price” and security forces would be given a free hand to deal with them.
In a hard-hitting speech, he said the “blood of the people is boiling” and forces behind the act of terrorism will be definitely be punished.
Indian claims were rubbished by several international observers saying there were no casualties and the bombs had clearly missed the target as two trees were found to be snapped in half.
