Suffered no damage, ready to take Indian media to Balakot: Pakistan

KARACHI: In a move to perpetuate its ‘no attack’ theory, Pakistan’s military on Monday offers to take Indian journalists to Balakot

Chief military spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor while addressing a news conference at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi repeated his offer to facilitate Indian media if they wished to visit Balakot to “see the truth,” reported PTI.

“The truth is that there was an incident in Pulwama. Attacks on the police in Pulwama have happened before. There was no damage at our end in Balakot. We took local and foreign media there to show them [the truth]. We will facilitate Indian media if they choose to come to Balakot to see the truth,” said General Ghafoor, as quoted by Geo News.

Tensions between the two nuclear powers have been rising following the deadly attack by the Pak-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) terror group in Kashmir’s Pulwama district on 14 February, which killed more than 40 soldiers of the Central Reserve Police Force.

In a counter-terror operation, Indian Air Force (IAF) hit the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on 26 February, in which, according to intelligence reports, around 300 terrorists were killed.

Pakistan, in its long-standing policy of denial, alleged that India had been “lying repeatedly” and maintained that no terror establishment had been attacked.