Daily Times

Pakistan on Tuesday categorically rejected Indian claim of carrying out an airstrike in the Pakistani territory and killing 350 terrorists, declaring the incursion just a ‘dry run’ that was effectively and immediately repulsed by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

“Today, the prime minister has asked everyone to get ready for every eventuality. We are all ready. Now it is time for India to wait for our response,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor told a press conference. “The response will come at a point and time of our choosing, where our civil-military leadership decides, and as a matter of fact, has decided,” he added.

Last night, the Indian fighter jets attempted to intrude from three sectors including Sialkot-Lahore, Okara-Bahawalpur and Kiran in Muzaffarabad, which were timely spotted and repulsed by Pakistan’s regular Combat Air Patrol (CAP) teams, he said. He said after the Pulwama incident, tensions mounted and Pakistan started carrying out regular CAP missions to effectively respond to any aggression, under which one or two CAP missions used to remain airborne all the time.

“Last night, our radars were observing them. They had earlier come closer to our border but did not cross it. Last night, their first visibility was observed near the Sialkot and Lahore border. They were seen approaching the border. Our Combat Air Patrol (CAP) team approached and challenged them. They did not cross,” he said. “As per the SOP (standard operating procedure), when the first team got committed there, the next CAP team was automatically 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,” he added. “Their approaching of the border, the challenge and their return took four minutes,” he asserted.

The ISPR chief said timely and effective response from the PAF compelled the intruding aircraft to release payload (four bombs) in haste while escaping, which fell near Jabba village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Falsifying Indian claims, he showed some slides from Indian media which indicated that Indian Air Force had remained airborne in Pakistani airspace for about 21 minutes. “Allah Almighty is the greatest and we should not make tall claims, but come and try to spend 21 minutes in Pakistani airspace,” he challenged New Delhi.

Maj Gen Ghafoor said as per the war preparedness and methodology, Pakistan’s safeguards on ground, air and sea are fully placed. “Our safeguards on land are in place. So if they had tried an on-ground incursion, they would have met the planned response. We are on eyeball-to-eyeball on the Line of Control, Working Boundary and Line of Actual Contact. However, our entire air force cannot stay airborne,” he said.

The ISPR DG said India actually intended to target civilian population, as it is its routine practice during ceasefire violations, to claim that they were terrorists and promote its warmongering for political gains in the upcoming general election. Targeting military installations will not have served the purpose, he added.

Referring to his previous press briefing, the ISPR DG said he had already said three things. “You will never be able to surprise us. We have not been surprised. We were ready. We responded,” he said. “We will retain the escalation ladder, we have that initiative in our hand. We will surprise you. Wait for that surprise. Our response will be different … see it for yourselves … the response will come differently,” he asserted.

He said the ISPR wanted to airlift reporters to see the spot by themselves, however due to weather conditions this could not be materialized. The ISPR DG said the local media telecast and showed that there was not even a single brick or debris. Had there been casualties of even 10 people, there would have been bodies, funerals or blood stains at the site, he added.

He offered that the spot was open for everybody, all ambassadors, defence attaches, United Nations Military Observers Group, and even civilian population or the army jets from India can come and see for themselves to ask Indian prime minister where was that impact. “A lie has no legs, they (India) have also made same claims of surgical strike in the past,” he said. “Prime Minister Imran Khan has clearly said that we will not think of retaliation, we will retaliate,” he said, adding India did not attack but made intrusion at three points.

Maj Gen Ghafoor said Pakistan is a democratic country and believes that two democracies cannot fight with each other. “But, India has proven that it was not a democracy. You have chosen a path of war, without knowing the consequences for peace and stability in the region,” he said.

He said Pakistan had fought for 15 years to bring peace and stability in the region. He said Pakistan is a democracy. “We have political consensus. First the PM had authorized the armed forces to take them (India) on. So armed forces responded and the plans with which India had come, we denied that,” he added.

Now, he said, the PM in Tuesday’s meeting asked the armed forces, all elements of national power and 207 million population of Pakistan to get ready for any eventuality. “We are ready and all the political parties are one. Now it is time for India to wait for our response. The response will come. At the time of our choice,” he remarked.

When asked if Pakistan’s response would be in military terms or diplomatic, the ISPR DG said, “Whenever a country responds, it does so in all domains.”

When asked if India’s claim of 350 casualties has been backed by any other country, the army spokesperson questioned whether India itself has ‘shown anything or backed the claim’. “The clip that they are showing is the one that has existed on YouTube for 2-3 years,” he said.

When asked why the Indians were not shot down, Maj Gen Ghafoor said he wished they had remained in Pakistan for some more time. “Had India taken the decision to attack military targets, it could have done so from a stand-off distance too. It could have aimed without crossing the LoC. Their target was just to take a dry run,” he said. “We have thousands of seminaries. They could have picked one, fired at it, and the casualties of our students would have made it easier to portray their lie as truth. They could have painted them as terrorists,” he added.

Maj Gen Ghafoor said Prime Minister Imran Khan has called a meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) following the joint session of parliament scheduled for Wednesday. “There is a joint session of the parliament on Wednesday and then the prime minister has summoned a meeting of the National Command Authority [country’s top nuclear body]. I hope you know what the NCA means and what it constitutes,” he added.

In New Delhi, the Indian government, facing an election in the coming months, claimed the air strikes hit a training camp belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale claimed a very large number of militants were killed in the strikes on a Jaish training camp near Balakot. “The existence of such training facilities, capable of training hundreds of jihadis, could not have functioned without the knowledge of the Pakistani authorities,” Gokhale said.

Villagers near the town of Balakot were shaken from their sleep by the air strikes. They said they knew of no fatalities. “We saw fallen trees and one damaged house, and four craters where the bombs had fallen,” said Ajmal, a 25-year-old who visited the site.

India’s air force also claimed shooting down a drone near the frontier with Pakistan, just hours after its warplanes were chased away by the PAF jets for violating the Pakistani airspace.

Indian villagers reportedly discovered debris from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) not far from the Pakistan border in western Gujarat state, police said. “A UAV has been shot down by the armed forces. We are investigating it,” a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity. Investigators will probe whether the drone came from Pakistan, he added.

Published in Daily Times, February 27^th 2019.