'Pakistan fears another surgical strike': Ex-Pak diplomat after Poonch terror attack

Counter-strike fear is looming in Pakistan after the Poonch terror attack and it has become the talk of the town.

Published on: Apr 26, 2023, 19:35:37 IST

By HT News Desk

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Former Pakistani diplomat Abdul Basit said India may carry out another surgical strike in the aftermath of the terror attack in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, but ruled out any such possibility ahead of the G20 Summit. Basit said that fear of a retaliatory strike has become the talk of the town in Pakistan.

Poonch, Apr 22 (ANI): Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi inspects the Poonch terror attack incident site in which 5 army personnel lost their lives, in Poonch on Saturday. (ANI Photo) (Sumit Bhargav)

"Now people in Pakistan are talking about another surgical strike or air strike by India. I do not think that now they will do the same because they are holding SCO meet and G20 presidency this year. I don't see any misadventures from India till the time they hold presidencies. But next year during elections, India may do this again. This may happen just before the elections in India," Basit said in a recent video.

The former Pakistani diplomat also tried to justify the terror attack in which five army jawans lost their lives by saying "whoever has done it, be it Mujahedeen or whosoever, they have targeted the military, not civilians.

"They are engaged in a legitimate struggle. If you are conducting a movement, you are targeting the military but not civilians, international law allows it."

The video came a few days after the Poonch terror attack in which five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles deployed for counterterrorism operations were killed in an attack claimed by People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), an offshoot of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). Officials in the security establishment suspect that Lashkar-e-Taiba had also colluded with Jaish to carry out the attack.

Following the attack, the army launched a massive operation on Friday to hunt down a group of around six to seven terrorists, which it said was behind the ambush.

PAFF has released some pictures on social sites claiming them to be from the site of the ambush at Tota Gali and stated that some parts of the videos of the ‘Operation’ will be released ‘soon’.

(With ANI inputs)

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