The 2019 Balakot airstrike was a bombing raid conducted by Indian warplanes on 26 February 2019 in Balakot, Pakistan, against an alleged training camp of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.[3][4]Open source satellite imagery has revealed that no targets of consequence were hit.[1][2][5] The following day, Pakistan shot down an Indian warplane and took its pilot, Abhinandan Varthaman, as prisoner.[6][7] Indian anti-aircraft fire downed an Indian helicopter killing six or seven airmen on board,[8][9] their deaths receiving perfunctory coverage by Indian media.[10] India claimed that a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet was downed, but that claim has been debunked.[5] The airstrike was used by India's ruling party to bolster its patriotic appeal in the general elections of April 2019.[11]
The airstrike was conducted by India in the early morning hours of 26 February when Indian warplanes crossed the de facto border in the disputed region of Kashmir and dropped bombs in the vicinity of the town of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.[12][13] Pakistan's military, the first to announce the airstrike in the morning of 26 February,[14] described the Indian planes as dropping their payload in an uninhabited wooded hilltop area near Balakot.[15]
India, confirming the airstrike later the same day, characterized it to be a preemptive strike directed against a terrorist training camp, and causing the deaths of a "large number" of terrorists.[16] Satellite imagery analyzed by the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Laboratory,[17]Reuters,[18] European Space Imaging,[19] and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute,[20] has concluded that India did not hit any targets of significance on the Jaba hilltop site in the vicinity of Balakot.[21][22]
The following day on 27 February, in a tit-for-tat airstrike,[23]Pakistan retaliated,[24] causing an Indian warplane to be shot down and its pilot to be taken prisoner by the Pakistan military before being returned on 1 March.[25][26] An Indian Mi-17 helicopter was brought down by friendly fire in which all six airmen on board were killed; this was acknowledged by India on 4 October 2019.[27] The airstrikes were the first time since the India-Pakistan war of 1971 that warplanes of either country crossed the Line of Control and also since both states became nuclear powers.[a]
On 10 April 2019, 47 days after the airstrike, some international journalists, who were taken to the Jaba hilltop in a tightly controlled trip arranged by Pakistani government, found the largest building of the site to show no evidence of damage or recent rebuilding.[29][30][31][32]
The Kashmir insurgency has been occurring since 1989, but a new wave of violence was witnessed during 2016 when Burhan Wanithen commander of Hizbul Mujahideen was killed in an encounter.[33] In 2018, more than 500 people (including civilians, soldiers and militants) were killed in the violence.[33] On 14 February 2019, a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway was attacked by a vehicle-bornesuicide bomber at Lethpora in the Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The attack resulted in the deaths of 46 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and the attacker. The perpetrator of the attack was from Indian-administered Kashmir.[34] The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed.[35][36][37] Pakistan condemned the attack, and denied any connection to it.[38]
The airstrike occurred ahead of the 2019 Indian general election.[39][40] On 19 February, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan attributed Indian government's desire to attack Pakistan to the upcoming election.[41][42] The Indian government rejected the allegation.[41]
Incident
On 26 February 2019, Pakistan announced the intrusion of Indian aircraft into its airspace,[14] but asserted that the Indian fleet was intercepted, causing them to retreat, to release their bombs which hit an open area, and to dump their fuel.[43] In a press briefing, Pakistan's Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asif Ghafoor, stated that three IAF teams were spotted approaching the Pakistan border from various sectors in the early hours of 26 February. He added that the two of these teams did not cross the border following a challenge from Pakistani aircraft flying combat air patrol, but the third one crossed the Line of Control from the Kiran Valley near Muzaffarabad before being intercepted by Pakistani Air Force (PAF) jets within three minutes of the incursion.[44][45]Pervez Khattak, Pakistani Defence Minister, stated that the Pakistani Air Force did not retaliate at that time because "they could not gauge the extent of the damage".[46][47]
Later on 26 February 2019, India confirmed the airstrike,[16] stating that the Indian Air Force conducted them in retaliation to the Pulwama attack. The strikes were subsequently claimed to be "non-military" and "preemptive'' in nature; targeting a Jaish-e-Mohammed facility within Pakistan.[48][b]
After releasing the bombs, the jets returned into Indian airspace unharmed and the Indian media claimed that whilst Pakistan scrambled its F-16 jets, they could not engage the Indian planes.[55] Retired PAF Air Marshall Masood Akhtar opined that the air forces of both countries may have been instructed not to attack each other to avoid further escalation of conflict.[56]
The target
There has been ambiguity among the sources as to what the exact target was,[57] and about whether the madrassa – Taleem ul-Quran[58] run by Masood Azhar's brother-in-law, Muhammad Yusuf Azhar, was an active JeM camp or not.
According to a diplomatic cable leaked in 2011, a 2004 United States Department of Defense interrogation report stated that Balakot had "a training camp that offers both basic and advanced terrorist training on explosives and artillery."[59] In contrast, military analysts asserted that whilst the area used to host militant camps, they dispersed after the 2005 Pakistan earthquake to avoid detection by the international aid groups providing relief in the area.[60]
Indian intelligence sources claim that the camp was located in a hilltop forest, 20 km (12 mi) from Balakot, and that it was a resort-style facility, with space and room for 500–700 militants, including a swimming pool, cooks and cleaners.[61]The New York Times mentioned western security officials of having doubted the existence of such large-scale training camps, asserting that Pakistan no longer runs them and that "militant groups are spread out in small groups around the country".[57]
The local people varied as to the purpose of the facility.[59] In the immediate aftermath of the strikes, whilst some claimed of it being an active Jaish training camp, others asserted it to have been a mere school for the local children and that such militant camps used to exist far earlier.[62][59][63] On later visits by Reuters, the locals claimed that the school had been shut down about a year back and was no longer operational.[64]
Damage
Neutral sources have asserted that the munitions dropped by Indian warplanes appeared to have only hit several trees and caused no other damage nor any human casualties.[65][66][67][68][69][70][excessive citations] Western diplomats in Islamabad stated that they did not believe the Indian Air Force had hit any militant camp, with one stating that it was "common knowledge amongst our intelligence" that the militant training camp in Balakot had been moved some years back.[68] Western security officials have cast doubt over Indian claims and asserted that there are no longer any such large scale militant camps in Pakistan.[71]
India has asserted that "a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis," who were preparing for launching another suicide attack targeting Indian assets, were killed.[48] Indian media reported that the camp was leveled, and about 200–350 JeM militants were killed[72][73] though the exact figures varied across media-houses.[74] The National Technical Research Organisation had located about 300 active mobile phones in the camp; prior to the strike.[75][76] In contrast, Pakistan asserted that there were no casualties or infrastructure damage as a result of the attack.[77][78]
Villagers from the area spoke of four bombs striking a nearby forest and field around 3 am; other than minor bruises and cuts incurred by a local man, and a few cracks in the walls of his home, both caused by shockwaves from the explosions, no damage was reported to humans or buildings.[79][62] Journalists associated with the Associated Press visited the area on 26 February and saw craters and damaged trees. The villagers they met reported no casualties.[80] A team from Al Jazeera visited the site two days after the strikes and noted "splintered pine trees and rocks" which were strewn across the four blast craters. The local hospital officials and residents asserted that they did not come across any casualty or wounded people. The reporters located the facility,[59] a school run by Jaish-e-Mohammed, at around a kilometre to the east of one of the bomb craters, atop a steep ridge but were unable to access it.[59] Reporters from Reuters were repeatedly denied access to the madrassa by the military citing security issues but they noted the structure (and its vicinity) to be intact from the back.[62][64] The press wing of the Pakistan military had twice postponed scheduled visits to the site.[64] However, on 29 March 2019, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) took journalists to the site where the strike took place. There were around 375 students present in the Madrasa. Journalists were allowed to interview the students. They were also allowed to take photos and record videos of the site.[81]
Satellite data assessments
Satellite-data analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Nathan Ruser concluded that there is "no apparent evidence of more extensive damage and on the face of it does not validate Indian claims regarding the effect of the strikes."[59][82][83] Michael Sheldon, a digital forensics analyst from Atlantic Council did another independent investigation on the issue which asserted that no damage was inflicted to any infrastructure around the target-site. It concluded that "something appeared to have gone wrong in the targeting process" and that the botch-up was mysterious in light of the autonomous nature of the supposedly used missiles.[84][85][86][87] A Reuters investigation based on high-resolution satellite imagery by Planet Labs noted an unchanged landscape when compared to an April 2018 satellite photo. It noted that "there were no discernible holes in the roofs of buildings, no signs of scorching, blown-out walls, displaced trees around the madrasa or other signs of an aerial attack".[88] Even higher quality imagery, taken from the WorldView-2 satellite, was later also analysed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and showed "that all three weapons missed by similar (but not identical) distances" suggesting "that the misses were caused by a systematic targeting error".[89][90]
European Space Imaging also provided high-resolution image of the site where the strike took place. The satellite imagery was from 27 February 2019, a day after the strike took place. The image showed that buildings were unharmed and there was no sign of casualties at the site. Managing director Adrian Zevenbergen, claimed that "there were no signs of scorching, no large distinguishable holes in the buildings and no signs of stress to the surrounding vegetation".[91]
Indian officials claims
In contrast, Indian officials said that analysis of before and after images from the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) carried by an airborne platform showed that four buildings had been destroyed but did not release those images.[83] The official stated that SAR images from the first day after the attack showed that the roofs of the building (made of corrugated galvanized iron (CGI) sheets) were missing, and were repaired after two days. According to the official the presence of new roofs had made the assessment by technical intelligence difficult and it was up to the Indian Government to decide on the release of the classified SAR images.[92] The Indian Air Force showed the reporters of India Today and other media houses, the high-resolution satellite pictures possessed by the IAF which according to India Today showed three holes in the roof of one of the buildings. These holes were reported as a "classic signature of a SPICE bomb strike".[93]
Media reports
Reuters journalists were prevented from coming near the site of the attack, three times in nine days by the Pakistani security officials.[94]Business Today India stated that the area around Balakot had been cordoned off by the Pakistan Army and evidence such as the dead bodies were being cleared from the area.[95]Praveen Swami writing for Firstpost claimed that Indian intelligence estimated a figure of about 20 casualties and that there were five confirmed kills per burial records.[96] He also noted a JeM rally in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on 28 February, wherein Masood Azhar's brother, Abdul Rauf Rasheed Alvi mentioned India's attack of their headquarters and vowed revenge.[96] In another piece, Swami stated that based on intercepted communications, Research and Analysis Wing analysts estimated 90 casualties, including three Pakistani Army trainers.[58] Swami though noted a lack of witness testimony to independently assess the validity of above claims.[58]
US State Department acknowledged reports of Pakistan misusing the F-16s, although undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs didn't mention concerns about the use of F-16s in shooting down Indian fighter jets since acknowledging it in formal State Department transmission would be a clear violation of Congress approved terms for selling the fighters as it would trigger formal procedures to reprimand Islamabad when the Trump administration wanted to repair bilateral diplomatic relations.[97] In 2021, multiple Indian news sources, including India Today, Times of India, Hindustan Times, Swarajya, Deccan Herald, LiveMint, and NDTV reported that former Pakistani diplomat, Zafar Hilaly had allegedly admitting to 300 casualties following the air strike, based on a story shared by Asian News International (ANI) and Republic TV. Alt News, an independent fact-checker, reported that Republic TV had shared a doctored video altering Hilaly's original speech, in which he stated that the air strike was intended to cause casualties, but did not kill anyone.[98][99][100][101] Following this, several of the sources, including News18, NDTV, and Times of India published a retraction of their reports.[102][103][104]
The IAF put air defence systems on alert along the international border and Line of Control to respond to any possible retaliation by the Pakistan Air Force.[105]
Pakistan's foreign ministerShah Mahmood Qureshi summoned an emergency meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan to discuss the security situation[106] and asserted that Pakistan reserved the right to retaliate.[107] The prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, convened an emergency meeting to review the situation.[108] At the end of this meeting, the National Security Council (NSC) released a statement denying the Indian claims of the destruction of any terrorist camp and described the attack as "uncalled for" whilst adding that retaliation would be forthcoming after a joint parliamentary session.[109][110] He also stated that Pakistan will take international media to the area of strikes but were delayed due to adverse weather conditions.[111]
ANI claimed to have released photos of the alleged JeM camp and weapons cache sourced from intelligence sources.[112][113][114]
Reactions
India
Foreign diplomats from the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, Indonesia, Turkey, China, and six ASEAN nations were briefed by Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale on the strike conducted.[115]Arun Jaitley, the Indian cabinet minister of Finance stated two reasons, for Pakistan denying the effectiveness of the airstrike stating, "There are two plausible reasons. First, the Pakistan army had created a big aura about its prowess among Pakistanis, and it did not want its image dented." Jaitley noted that the second reason was more important, and stated "Had the Pakistan army admitted that our fighters bombed its buildings, the first question to be raised would have been: What was the extent of damage? Experts would have come for a survey of the buildings and asked about the people staying inside... then Pakistan would have had to reveal names of the Jaish fighters who died there."[116]
International
Australia noted its condemnation of Pulwama attack and asked Pakistan to crack down on terrorists operating from its soil. It also asked both India and Pakistan to restrain from actions that would jeopardize peace.[117]
China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang stated "We hope that both India and Pakistan can exercise restraint and adopt actions that will help stabilize the situation in the region and improve mutual relations".[118]
France asked both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, saying that it supported Indian actions against terrorism and asked Pakistan to stop allowing its territory to be used by terrorists.[119]
United States' Mike Pompeo, State secretary termed the attack as a "counter-terrorism action" and reaffirmed US-India ties. He asked both sides to show restraint.[120]
^India became a nuclear power with successful Smiling Buddha operation in 1974 and Pakistan's successful operation of Chagai-I took place in 1998.[28]
^Scholar Ayesha Jalal has mentioned, "Many recruits to the Jaish-i-Muhammad were trained in a madrassa in Balakot named after Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed".[49] Rana and Mir state describe its precise location, "At a distance of five kilometres from this village [Attar Sheesha] there is a dirt track on the left that leads up to the mountains.... If an ordinary person does reach the madrassa he is not allowed to enter. Even Jaishe Mohammed workers can only enter after a thorough search and a registration process.... Judging from the outside, the area of the madrassa is very large and there is a fort like entrance gate that has a Jaishe Mohammed flag flying atop it."[50]
References
^ abLalwani, Sameer; Tallo, Emily (17 April 2019), "Did India shoot down a Pakistani F-16 in February? This just became a big deal: There are broader implications for India – and the United States", Washington Post, But these latest details about the India-Pakistan air battles threaten to discredit the BJP narrative and undermine its electoral prospects. Open-source satellite imagery revealed India did not hit any targets of consequence in the airstrikes it conducted after the terrorist attack on the paramilitaries. Additionally, reporting indicates that during the Feb. 27 air battle, friendly fire from an air-defense missile brought down an Indian military helicopter, killing six military personnel.
^ abHall, Ian (2019), "India's 2019 General Election: National Security and the Rise of the Watchmen", The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 108 (5): 507–519, 510, doi:10.1080/00358533.2019.1658360, S2CID203266692, Ten days after these comments, on 26 February, Modi gave the order for air strikes against alleged JeM facilities. Significantly, the target – near the town of Balakot – was not in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, but in Pakistan proper. … There the Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed a madrassa New Delhi claimed was a terrorist training camp associated with the JeM. The attack was acclaimed a success by the IAF, which claimed that several buildings were destroyed and up to 300 militants killed, but independent analysts suggest that it actually failed, with the missiles falling in nearby woods, rather than on their intended target (Ruser, 2019).
^"Kashmir", Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 November 2021, retrieved 15 January 2022, With a tough election cycle approaching, India's BJP-led government faced pressure from its supporters to take forceful action. Days later India sent fighter jets across Kashmir's line of control for the first time in five decades and later claimed to have conducted air strikes against the militant group's largest training camp.
^ abMarkey, Daniel (2022), "The Strategic Implications of India's Illiberalism and Democratic Erosion", Asia Policy, 17 (1), National Bureau of Asian Research: 77–105, doi:10.1353/asp.2022.0010, S2CID246816912, The Modi government's public mischaracterizations of the February 2019 Balakot airstrike and subsequent air skirmishes, including subsequently debunked claims of a destroyed terrorist camp inside Pakistan and India's downing of a Pakistani F-16 jet, have already raised questions in the United States about New Delhi's credibility and communications strategy in the midst of an exceptionally dangerous regional context.
^Encyclopaedia Britannica (2021), "Kashmir", retrieved 15 January 2022, Days later India sent fighter jets across Kashmir's line of control for the first time in five decades and later claimed to have conducted air strikes against the militant group's largest training camp. Pakistan denied the claim, saying that the jets had struck an empty field. The next day, Pakistan shot down two Indian jets in its airspace and captured a pilot.{{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^Tarapore, Arzan (2021), "Almost Parity: Understanding the India–Pakistan Conventional Military Balance", Routledge Handbook of South Asian Foreign Policy, Routledge, p. 413, India, for example, launched an air strike in February 2019 in response to a Pakistan-based terrorist attack, against what it claimed was a terrorist training facility in Balakot, Pakistan – although it remains unclear whether the target was actually destroyed. Pakistan responded with its own aerial incursion across the Line of Control the next day, during which it shot down one Indian fighter, and Indian anti-aircraft fire shot down an Indian helicopter. Those skirmishes provide only small and anecdotal evidence, but they suggest two lessons. First, with an air strike of dubious effect, an unanswered loss in air-to-air combat, and a loss to friendly fire, India cannot confidently claim dominance in the air domain.
^Hall, Ian (2019), "India's 2019 General Election: National Security and the Rise of the Watchmen", The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 108 (5): 507–519, 510, doi:10.1080/00358533.2019.1658360, S2CID203266692, The following day Pakistan's Air Force sent some of its aircraft towards the LoC, enticing the IAF to pursue them. In the ensuing dogfight, an IAF MiG-21 was shot down and its pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, captured by Pakistani forces. In the confusion, there was more bad news for India, with an IAF Mi-17 helicopter accidentally shot down by friendly fire, killing seven
^Jaffrelot, Christophe (2021), Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy, Princeton University Press, ISBN9780691223094, ... mistakenly shot down one of its own helicopters, killing six airmen. Despite the mixed results of these air strikes, Modi managed to portray himself as India's protector in a campaign dominated by nationalist and even warmongering rhetoric – largely because the fact that six airmen had died was hardly reported by the media.
^Jaffrelot, Christophe (2021), Modi's India: Hindu Nationalism and the Rise of Ethnic Democracy, Princeton University Press, ISBN9780691223094, Modi managed to portray himself as India's protector in a campaign dominated by nationalist and even warmongering rhetoric – largely because the fact that six airmen had died was hardly reported by the media.
^Joanna Slater (26 February 2019), "India strikes Pakistan in severe escalation of tensions between nuclear rivals", Washington Post
^
Maria Abi-Habib; Austin Ramzy (25 February 2019), "Indian Jets Strike in Pakistan in Revenge for Kashmir Attack", The New York Times Quote: "A spokesman for Pakistan's armed forces, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, on Tuesday posted on Twitter four images of a forested area pockmarked with small craters and debris, which he said was the site of Indian airstrikes."
^Martin Howell; Gerry Doyle; Simon Scarr (5 March 2019), Satellite images show buildings still standing at Indian bombing site, Reuters Quote: "The images produced by Planet Labs Inc, a San Francisco-based private satellite operator, show at least six buildings on the madrasa site on March 4, six days after the airstrike. ... There are no discernible holes in the roofs of buildings, no signs of scorching, blown-out walls, displaced trees around the madrasa or other signs of an aerial attack."
^European Space Imaging (8 March 2019), Satellite Imagery confirms India missed target in Pakistan airstrike Quote: " ... said managing director Adrian Zevenbergen. '... The image captured with Worldiew-2 of the buildings in question shows no evidence of a bombing having occurred. There are no signs of scorching, no large distinguishable holes in the roofs of buildings and no signs of stress to the surrounding vegetation.' "
^Marcus Hellyer; Nathan Ruser; Aakriti Bachhawat (27 March 2019), "India's strike on Balakot: a very precise miss?", The Strategist, Australian Strategic Policy Institute Quote: "But India's recent air strike on a purported Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist camp in Balakot in Pakistan on 26 February suggests that precision strike is still an art and science that requires both practice and enabling systems to achieve the intended effect. Simply buying precision munitions off the shelf is not enough."
^Joanna Slater; Pamela Constable (27 February 2019), "Pakistan captures Indian pilot after shooting down aircraft, escalating hostilities", Washington Post Quote: The two days of tit-for-tat airstrikes ... the first since 1971, were triggered by a 14 Feb terrorist bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian security personnel."
^Joanna Slater; Pamela Constable (27 February 2019), "Pakistan captures Indian pilot after shooting down aircraft, escalating hostilities", Washington Post
^Jeffrey Gettleman; Hari Kumar; Samir Yasir (2 March 2019), "Deadly Shelling Erupts in Kashmir Between India and Pakistan After Pilot Is Freed", The New York Times, On Wednesday, Pakistan mobilized its air force and shot down an Indian fighter jet above Kashmir, capturing the pilot. On Friday, Pakistan released the pilot, Wing Cmdr. Abhinandan Varthaman, calling it a gesture to ease tensions.
^AFP, Staff Writer (4 October 2019), India admits friendly fire downed Mi-17 helicopter in Kashmir, Washington, DC: The Defense Post, retrieved 9 February 2021, The Indian Air Force confirmed for the first time on Friday, October 4 that it shot down one of its own Mi-17 helicopters during clashes with Pakistan in February over Kashmir, killing all six on board.
^Martin Howell; Salahuddin (11 April 2019). "Inside the Pakistani madrasa where India said it killed hundreds of 'terrorists'". Reuters. Retrieved 28 March 2024. Quote: "Those visiting the site on Wednesday didn't see any signs that there had been significant building work to either clear structures or erect new ones. And the vegetation didn't appear to have suffered the stress that might be expected from a missile attack."
^Agence France Presse (11 April 2019), "Pakistan takes media, diplomats on visit to Indian strike site", france24, AFP Quote: "International outlets which visited the Indian air strike site in Pakistan found no evidence of a major terrorist training camp – or of any infrastructure damage at all."
^Siobhan Heanue (14 April 2019), "The remote school at the centre of a dispute between nuclear neighbours Pakistan and India", Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Quote: "One thing is clear: India's claim that it destroyed a militant training camp and killed more than 300 extremists cannot be backed up by the evidence. More than a month after India launched airstrikes inside Pakistan in retaliation for a militant attack that killed 40 paramilitary troops in Kashmir, foreign media have been allowed to see the areas hit."
^India Blames Pakistan for Attack in Kashmir, Promising a ResponseArchived 23 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine, New York Times. 15 February 2019. Quote:The militant who claimed responsibility for the attack, Aadil Ahmad Dar, was from a village about six miles from where the Indian convoy was struck, in contrast to the fighters and weapons that once streamed in from Pakistani-occupied areas to sustain the insurgency. And the explosives he packed into his car appear to have been locally procured, security experts said.
