IAF strikes in Pakistan live updates: India issues demarche to Pakistan, demands immediate and safe return of pilot

Pakistan’s response to the Indian air strikes vacillated between initially admitting that IAF jets had crossed the LoC to attack the terror camp in Balakot (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) but were forced to hastily retreat after dropping their payload as Pakistan Air Force had scrambled, to later rejecting altogether that there was an attack on any “alleged terrorist camp” anywhere.

The Indian air strikes on Balakot has seriously undercut the Pakistan army’s credibility, drawing attention to the deeply destabilising and malignant effects of its gloomy record as a global sponsor of terrorism on not just its neighbours but even Pakistan itself.

The strikes came at an appropriate time for BJP when Congress and other opposition parties had begun to question the Modi government’s resolve to tackle terrorism in the wake of the death of 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama. It was being recognised that the killing of para military troopers had blurred Modi government’s success in thwarting terror attacks outside J&K after JeM’s attack on Pathankot airbase.

Fighter jets, mid-air refuellers and early-warning aircraft from at least five airbases closely coordinated to unleash the "strike package" on the Balakot terror facility. The aim was to blow six targets within the facility to smithereens in two waves of firing. "The six were first hit with one wave of weapons. The second wave was executed once the dust settled after the first hit. The battle damage assessment was 100%," a top defence source said here.