NEW DELHI, Apr 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has revealed the untold story of how he ensured Pakistan was the first to officially hear about the 2019 Balakot airstrike.
“I instructed our forces to notify media about the airstrike, albeit after I had informed Pakistani authorities over phone that we have carried out an airstrike, killed these many people and caused this much destruction,” the prime minister said on Monday.
The revelation was made at a rally in Bagalkot's Navanagar in north Karnataka. PM Modi further stated that when he had dialled the neighbouring country, “they wouldn't take calls”.
“I then directed the forces to postpone disclosure until after I managed to contact them… Modi doesn't believe in hiding or attacking from behind, he fights openly,” Modi said, highlighting BJP-governed “new India's policy of looking an adversary in the eye and speaking the truth rather than resorting to stealth”.
Earlier this year, while delivering a keynote address at the Network18 Rising Bharat Summit 2024, PM Narendra Modi had recalled that when he was at the conclave five years ago, a significant event took place soon after.
“I was at the summit in February 2019,” he had said. “The atmosphere was pretty similar. I calmly left after exchanging greetings with everyone. And then India carried out airstrikes in the night at Balakot.”
India's fighter jets pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26, 2019, in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.
Whether terrorist masterminds or countries seeking peace and development, everyone has experienced the phenomenon of Rising Bharat, the PM said at the summit.
