ISLAMABAD -Embarrassed after leaked intelligence, Indian defence ministertries to mock Pakistan over new IAF strike plan.
Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has rejected Islamabad’s claimsthat India plans to launch a new attack against Pakistan before the endof April.
“I don’t know where he (the Pakistani foreign minister) got this date, sogood luck to him. God knows whatever it is, but it sounded very fancifulfor me and amusing,” Sitharaman told the Indian news agency ANI.
She commented on a previous statement made by Pakistan’s Foreign MinisterShah Mehmood Qureshi that the Pakistani government had “reliableintelligence that India is devising a new plan” to attack its westernneighbour between 16 and 20 April.
He warned that “if it happens”, it will have “an impact on the peace andstability of the region”.
His remarks came after Indian Air Chief Marshal B. S. Dhanoa said that “inthe Balakot operation, we had technology on our side, and we could launchprecision stand of weapons with great accuracy”.
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This comes amid ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan over allegedterrorist camps in Azad Kashmir, which New Delhi insists house themilitants responsible for the 14 February car-bomb attack in Pulwama, whichkilled over 40 Indian police officers in Kashmir. Islamabad denies theexistence of any terrorist camps on Pakistani soil.
India has accused Pakistan of doing little to stop the operationsof terrorists located within the country. The India Air Force struck whatit described as a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camp in Balakot areaon 26 February. This prompted retaliation by Pakistan; Pakistani F-16warplanes struck Indian military targets in the Indian- occupied Kashmirand were repelled by Indian warplanes in a dogfight.
The 27 February air battle exacerbated New Delhi-Islamabad tensions,resulting in multiple cross-border exchanges of fire and several Pakistanidrones allegedly violating Indian airspace.
In the latest development, a “heavy exchange of mortar and small armsfiring took place in the Nowshera sector of the Rajouri districtof Kasmir”, according to Indian government officials.
