PM Narendra Modi remained up all night after monitoring Balakot strike
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained awake till the early hours the night the Indian Air Force carried out the Balakote strikes to avenge the murder of more than 40 jawans in Pulwama terror attack.
The Prime Minister told ABP News that he stayed awake on the early morning of February 25 and browsed the Net to see how the world would react after India bombed the terrorist-training camp in Balakote.
“When at 3.40 am I was told that the operation was over and our forces had returned safely, I did not sleep, I browsed the internet to see if there was any reaction anywhere in the world,” PM Narendra Modi told the television channel.
He revealed officers updated him every minute. “Even if there is a major accident in India, I keep following it up. How can I sleep if I know the operation is going to happen?” he said in the interview.
He added that it was only around 5.30 am that a Pakistani official tweeted about the operation. “After that I called all the officials concerned for a meeting, around 7 am”, the PM said.
On the Opposition leaders asking for proof of the Balakot strike, the Prime Minister said: “The biggest proof is the tweet by the Pakistan official, we did not publicise the operation, they did.”
In the early hours of Feb 25, IAF struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Pakistan’s Balakote in retribution of Feb 14 Pulwama terror attack. More than 40 jawans were killed in the attack in Pulwama. Soon after the strike, at 5.36 am, spokesperson of Pakistani Armed Forces Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted about the operation.
The problem is that Pakistan cannot complain about Balakot operation beyond a point, because they will then have to admit that IAF struck a terrorist camp, PM Modi added.
On being asked on the future of India, Pakistan diplomatic relations, PM Modi said: “For that, they will have to stop exporting terror”.
Giving a case of India’s relations with China, the PM said that we had differences and disputes with them as well. However, we talk about bilateral issues, do business.
