The Balakot strike - its aftermath.

Background.

1. On 14 Feb '19, a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu - Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-borne suicide bomber at Lethpora in Pulwama district killing 46 CRPF personnel. The PM had made a vow that Pakistan - the cradle of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group that had claimed responsibility for the dastardly attack - will be avenged for this misadventure and gave the armed forces a free hand to decide on the retaliation.

The Balakot Strike.

2. Exactly 12 days later, in the wee hours of 26 Feb, the airstrike was carried out by the IAF's Mirage 2000s armed with Spice 2000 and Popeye precision guided munitions dropped the bombs in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, several miles inside the province's boundary with PoK.

  (a) The Mirage 2000s were supported by 4 Su-30 MKIs, Netra and Phalcon Airborne early Warning

        and Control System aircraft(AWACS), an IAI Heron UAV and 2 IL-78 aerial refuelling aircraft.

  (b) 4 Su-30 MKIs, tasked as decoys, 'presumably' headed for Bahawalpur, successfully drew the PAF

        fighters south of the main attack force.

  (c) Pakistan military, the first to confirm the airstrike in the morning of 26 Feb described the Indian

        aircraft as dropping their payload in an uninhabited, wooded hilltop area near Balakot.

  (d) India, confirming the airstrike, later the same day, characterised it to be a pre-emptive strike

        directed against the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camp causing the deaths of a large

        number of terrorists (Close to 300!)

The Cacophonics Begin.

3. The entire opposition had been taunting the PM that his 56" chest could not put an end to

    Pakistan and its shenanigans - a taunt, pulled out from one of his election speeches of 2014 - and

    certain sections of the Indian media wanted proof of the attacks, bolstering their arguments from

    articles that were quoted from certain dubious foreign agencies.

4. Fake news were quick to follow and even to this day, the opponents and critics of Modi and his

    government have refused to accept that the Balakot airstrikes were, indeed, successful.

My take.

To all the doubting Thomases, my question is this. "If the airstrikes were totally off the mark and that no casualties had been inflicted, wouldn't Pakistan have taken the entire lot of the foreign diplomats and the international press, stationed within it, the very next day to Balakot to show the 'botched up' attempt by India and had a mighty laugh at our expense?"

And to the same doubters, my advice would be, "Do not doubt your armed forces and the government just because you hate Narendra Modi. Such negative attitude can have far reaching repercussions". 

Tailpiece.

Got up at our usual time, despite it being a Sunday. Went through our chores and were ready well in time. It was a quiet day.