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ndia’s military strike against Pakistan in re- also claimed to have shot down two Indian aircrafts
sponse to Pulwama attack which killed more inside Pakistan Administered Kashmir and captur-
than 40 CRPF personnel and the Pakistani ing the Indian pilot Abhinadan Vardhman. India said
response to it has brought the region to the it has also shot down a Pakistani F-16 which fell in
I brink. The crisis began on Tuesday when India Pakistani territory. Now should India choose to
launched a pre-dawn attack on Jaish-e-Muhammad respond again, things could go up the escalatory lad-
headquarters at Balakote in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. der and culminate into a full-fledged war.
New Delhi termed its attack on Pakistan as “non-mili- However, in a speech after Pakistani action Paki-
tary preventive strike on a major Jaish-e-Mohammed stan Prime Minister Imran Khan sought to de-es-
terror camp”. In a statement released soon after the calate the situation and offered India dialogue and
attack, Foreign Secretary Vijay K Gokhale said: “the assurance to act if provided with a proof of Pakistani
Government of India is firmly and resolutely com- involvement.
mitted to taking all necessary measures to fight the But while the two countries are at it, the situation
menace of terrorism”. in Kashmir, the site of the attack against the CRPF, has
A day after Pakistan violated Indian airspace in been pushed into the background. When on Febru-
Rajouri sector of J&K, dropping a few bombs. Pakistan ary 14, a Kashmiri suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar
tehelka / 15 march 2019 12 www.tehelka.com
