For the first time since the 1971 India-Pakistan war, India carried out an aerial bombing Tuesday over the Line of Control, a ceasefire line dividing India Occupied Kashmir and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
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In recent days Indian mainstream media has upped its criticism of Pakistan resulting in violence against Muslims and Kashmiris, and a recent report has India claiming that its jets crossed into Pakistani territory to strike at a “terror camp.”
Villagers near the town of Balakot in northeast Pakistan were shaken out of their sleep by what felt like an earthquake, in the early hours of Tuesday, only discovering once dawn broke that there had been an Indian airstrike in their neighborhood.
Indian officials said the raid destroyed a training camp of Jaish-e- Mohammed, the militant group behind a suicide attack in Indian Occupied Kashmir that killed 44 members of Indian security forces on Feb. 14.
The villagers, however, said only one person was wounded in the attack and they knew of no fatalities. Pakistan officials have denied India’s claim of killing “a very large number” of fighters.
Pakistan’s Major General Asif Ghafoor wrote on Twitter that “Indian aircrafts intruded from” Muzaffarabad, a district of Pakistan Administered Kashmir.
The action was ordered as India said it had intelligence that Jaish was planning more attacks.
“In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary,” Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters.
Pakistan condemned the Indian action and said it would respond at a time and place of its choice.
Pakistan was the one to break the news of India’s intrusion into its territory saying India’s plane entered only four miles before running away.
Pakistan’s National Security Committee said that it “strongly rejected Indian claim of targeting an alleged terrorist camp near Balakot and the claim of heavy casualties.”
Before full account of the “surgical strike” strike, some Indians demonstrated against Pakistan and Paksitanis and celebrated the official Indian version of the attack, a result of anger and hate against Pakistan and Kashmiris after Feb. 14th incident.
“This action has been done for domestic consumption in the election environment, putting regional peace and stability at grave risk,” said Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The far-right Hindu Nationalist Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi said Tuesday to a cheering crowd, "I understand your enthusiasm and your energy. Today is a day we bow before our heroes."