Rejecting media reports that claimed 300 terrorists were killed in last week’s airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot, Union minister SS Ahluwalia has said that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi or BJP Amit Shah had confirmed the number of casualties, reports The Indian Express.
“I’ve followed both the Indian and international media. I’ve listened to PM Modi as well. After the airstrikes, PM Modi had delivered a speech. Did he say that 300 people were killed? Did any BJP spokesperson confirm this? Did Amit Shah say any such thing? By dropping the bomb at your doorstep, we are trying to send across a message that we are capable of destruction. This is what was required,” Ahluwalia said at a press conference.
The clarification by the Darjeeling MP came after a section of the media reported that according to government sources, around 300 terrorists, including Jaish chief Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law, were killed in the airstrike.
Following the BJP lawmaker’s remarks, the CPI(M) targeted the Modi government and asked if the government was now taking a U-turn from its earlier claims that the JeM camp was attacked in Pakistan. “Is the government now backtracking from its claims that they took out a terrorist camp in Pakistan?” the party tweeted.
Days after 40 CRPF jawans were killed in the terror attack in Pulwama, India struck a key terror camp in Balakot following credible intelligence that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country.
At a press briefing, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale that confirmed a “non-military preemptive action” specifically targeting a JeM camp was conducted by the Indian Air Force.
Top government sources had told The Indian Express that limitations of technical intelligence and lack of ground intelligence at this point make any assessment of terrorists killed in the attack “purely speculative”.