We have right to give ‘befitting response’: Pakistan

Islamabad | Pakistan said on Tuesday that it has “the right to self-defence and (give) a befitting response” after the IAF struck JeM’s biggest training camp in Balakot close to the Line of Control (LoC).

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi described as “Indian aggression” the Indian Air Force’s bombing from the Muzaffarabad sector of what New Delhi said the biggest training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

He claimed the Indian jets were forced to return “owing to the timely response of the Pakistan Air Force”.

“We kept on telling the world that this could happen… they (India) carried out aggression against Pakistan today,” he said.

“India violated the LoC. Pakistan holds the right to self-defence and a befitting response,” Qureshi told media, after chairing an emergency consultative meeting at the Foreign Office to discuss the situation arising from what he dubbed as Indian intrusion.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had summoned a meeting to review the situation.

The Foreign Office meeting was attended by former foreign secretaries and senior diplomats.

Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor said earlier: “Indian aircraft intrusion across LoC in Muzafarabad sector within AJK was 3-4 miles. Under forced hasty withdrawal aircraft released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties. Technical details and other important information to follow.”

He also tweeted images of the “payload of hastily escaping Indian aircraft” which “fell in (the) open”.

Tuesday’s attack came after a suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF troopers in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack was claimed by the JeM.

Published on: Feb 26, 2019 at 13:15 IST

IANS