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Rajdeep Sardesai, who expressed ‘excitement’ at the Parliament attack, now laments the lack of ‘evidence’ after India strikes Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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Rajdeep Sardesai, who expressed ‘excitement’ at the Parliament attack, now laments the lack of ‘evidence’ after India strikes Pakistan

In the wee hours of the morning today, India avenged the Pulwama terror attack which was sponsored by Pakistan and carried out by the terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad. As India woke up, news trickled in that the Indian Air Force had conducted air strikes deep inside Pakistan territory, going right up to Balakol, Pakistan, to level Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps with bombs weighing 1000 kgs each.

As the details of this massive retaliation became apparent, it was evident that while India bombed Pakistan, some “liberal” cinders had started burning here too.

While some abused Prime Minister Modi, others, like the now-a-lie-now-a-rally Rahul Gandhi, tweeted 7 paltry words snuggled between two emojis.

Rajdeep Sardesai, the quintessential Lutyens journalist who has made a career out of bad journalism, however, discovered a brand new low.

Hours after the attack and while the nation celebrated our braves being avenged, Rajdeep took to Twitter to lament the lack of ‘evidence’ of the strike that had been carried out by the Indian Air Force.


Rajdeep Sardesai, who had just a few weeks ago admitted to “feeling excited” during the dastardly Parliament terrorist attack of 2001, did what he does best. He cast aspersions while the nation celebrated India avenging the Pulwama martyrs.

Rajdeep Sardesai asserted that channels were saying that per sources, 300 terrorists have been killed in the air strikes. He then said that Pakistani channels were claiming that there were no casualties in Pakistan. He said both these claims were not backed by ‘evidence’.

While the official number of casualties has not been released, lots of information based on credible sources have been released in the public forum. Also, when Rajdeep says that neither claims have been substantiated or have been backed by evidence, he makes way for the possibility that even the Pakistani claim could be true.

Rajdeep took to Twitter to cast aspersions even while his own channel, India Today, reported that 200-300 terrorists had been neutralised in this airstrike by India.

This is exactly what had happened after the Surgical strikes of 2016. Several Congress politicians and their pet reporters had cast aspersions on the strikes. Pakistan had escorted international media to an unrelated site in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to supposedly “prove” that no strike had taken place. The media luminaries and Congress politicians had toed the exact same line to undermine the Modi government and the Indian army.

Even then, they had craftily said that they personally don’t doubt the Indian Army, but if Pakistan is asking for proof, it should be provided. What we see Rajdeep doing today is not much different from what had happened then.

It is rather unfortunate that Rajdeep Sardesai, who has been in the business of “journalism” for decades is more focussed on undermining this unprecedented strike against Pakistan simply because he has built a career based on hating and undermining Narendra Modi.

Trying to deny India’s air strike on terror camps, Pakistan starts clean-up operations of sites bombed by IAF

OpIndia Staff
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Trying to deny India’s air strike on terror camps, Pakistan starts clean-up operations of sites bombed by IAF

Pakistan has forever been in this denial mode maintaining that there have been no terrorists ever on its soil. Now in what can be seen as a cover-up, spooked by India’s air-strike on terror bases in the country, Pakistan has started a clean-up job, clearing away evidence such as dead bodies and rubbles so that they can deny India’s claims of the latest IAF strike wiping 300 militants in Balakot.

According to reports, the Pakistan Army has cordoned off the 60-acre compound, that is close to an area of 32-34 kilometre radius. No entry or exit of private vehicles are being allowed. According to intelligence inputs, this is a clean-up operation by the Pakistan Army, who is steadily removing all shreds of evidence, which confirmed that there was some kind of a blast.

According to sources the camp which was destroyed in the air strike was the terrorist camp which was made with the help of the Pakistan Army and the ISIS. Since the Pakistan army doesn’t want this information to go out, they have probably been in an urgency to clear all evidence. Pakistan is not allowing the International media to go near the vicinity of the attack, which was a joint base of terror groups, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish and the LeT.

In fact, it is quite evident why Pakistan is not choosing to talk about the air strike India executed at the Jaish-e-Mohammad facility in Balakot. If at all Pakistan acknowledges the attack, they know for certain that they become answerable to their public, who will be keen to know Pakistan’ future course of action. Pakistan is aware that they are not sufficiently equipped to answer back to India’s aggression, therefore it has begun this clean-up exercise in desperation.

Pakistan, who had previously denied the 2016 surgical strikes being executed on their soil, have gone into the same denial mode, with Pakistan spokesperson for Pakistan Armed Forces Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor downplaying the air strikes, claiming that Indian aircrafts’ intrusion happened across the LOC in Muzaffarabad Sector within Pakistan occupied Kashmir. He also tried to hide his country’s defence failure by alleging that the ‘payload’ that was dropped by the IAF Mirage-2000 had fallen on the open area, with no damage to infrastructure, neither any casualties.

However, the latest admission by the residents of Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunwa debunks the tenuous defence mounted by the Pakistan armed forces spokesperson. The corroboration from locals also means that the Indian Air Force had crossed the International border for the first time in decades to strike terror targets deep inside Pakistan.

Six different locations in the area spread over 60 acres in Balakot, had been bombarded by the IAF in the early hours of the day. Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 fighters destroyed multiple terrorist camps deep inside Pakistan to avenge the death of soldiers in the Pulwama terror attack. The Indian Air Force had carried out the pre-emptive attack to destroy the terror camps operated by the proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad. It was reported that the IAF jets had pulverised terror camps in Balakot (Pakistan), Muzaffarabad (PoK) and Chakoti (PoK) in the well-planned strike involving a fleet of IAF jets and other military jets.

India bombs Pakistan, Pakistan responds by vandalising Wikipedia article on the Uri terrorist attack of 2016

OpIndia Staff
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India bombs Pakistan, Pakistan responds by vandalising Wikipedia article on the Uri terrorist attack of 2016

On the day the Indian Air force destroyed the terrorist camps of Jaish‑e‑Mohammed in Pakistan, avenging the Pulwama terror attack, someone resorted to vandalising the Wikipedia page of the 2016 Uri Attack.

One user heavily edited the Wikipedia article to say that the attack on an Army base in 2016 in Uri was done by “RSS terrorists”. The editor had replaced most references to Pakistan to India, resulting in the article saying India was promoting terrorism, not Pakistan.

The editing of the Wikipedia article was done without signing into the website, therefore the IP address from where the vandalization was done was visible in place of a user name, as per Wikipedia policy.

We looked up the IP address, 42.201.145.26, to know its location, and it seems that the user is from Pakistan. According to online IP address location lookup tools, the IP address belongs to Fiberlink Private Limited, a Pakistan based Internet Service Provider, and the internet connection is located in Karachi city.

The vandalism on the article has now been removed as Wikipedia editors have reverted the changes made by the person from Pakistan.

The attack on the Indian Army brigade headquarters in Uri on 18 September 2016 was conducted by four Pakistan based Jaish‑e‑Mohammed terrorists, which had left 17 soldiers dead before the terrorists could be neutralised. Following the attack, the Indian Army had conducted retaliatory surgical strikes the terrorist launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on 29th September.

Air strikes by India: Pakistan’s ‘all-weather friend’ China urges to observe ‘restraint’

OpIndia Staff
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Air strikes by India: Pakistan’s ‘all-weather friend’ China urges to observe ‘restraint’

In the wake of the air strikes conducted by the Indian Air Force deep inside Pakistan obliterating the Jaish-e-Muhammad camps in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Chikhoti, India’s eastern neighbour China, considered as Pakistan’s all-weather ally has asked the arch-enemies Pakistan and India to exercise ‘restraint’ amidst the soaring tensions after the IAF avenged the deaths of 40 CRPF personnel martyred in the Pulwama attack.

China’s Foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, “We expect India and Pakistan both to exercise restraint and adopt confidence-building measures to ensure stability in the region and improve mutual relations.” China has advocated diplomatic talks instead of military belligerence to bridge the differences between India and Pakistan and has urged them to resolve their issues amicably.

Kang also stated that both India and Pakistan are both important countries in South Asia. He added that a sound relationship and cooperation between the two serves the interests of both countries.

China, one of the closest allies of Pakistan has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan to develop its envisaged China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. Much lies at stake for the Chinese to let the region slip into a turmoil by advocating escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan.

The IAF had conducted the operation in the pre-dawn hours on February 26, 2019. 12 Mirage-2000 fighter jets had flown into Pakistan across the International Border and dropped bombs weighing 1000Kg each destroying multiple terror camps. The terror camp in Balakot, identified as the Alpha-3 terror camp of Jaish-e-Muhammad was operated by the JeM chief Masood Azhar’s brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar. It is believed that he has been killed in the air strikes. Several top Jaish commanders and terrorists are also reported to have been killed in the attack, with casualties ranging between 200 to 300.

Arvind Kejriwal calls off his ‘indefinite fast’ in view of ‘prevailing Indo Pak situation’

OpIndia Staff
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Arvind Kejriwal calls off his ‘indefinite fast’ in view of ‘prevailing Indo Pak situation’

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was to go on an indefinite hunger strike from March 1 demanding full statehood for Delhi from has called off his dharna because of the ‘prevailing Indo Pak situation’.


Indian Air Force, in a non-military preemptive air strike on the terror camps based out of Pakistan. Kejriwal, who had last time asked for a proof that India had carried out a surgical strike in September 2016, had politely hailed the Indian Air Force pilots today.

The air strikes are seen as a fitting response to the Pulwama terror attack which took place on February 14 which claimed lives of over 40 soldiers.

However, the ‘prevailing Indo Pak situation’ right after the terror attack did not come in way of Kejriwal when he announced the indefinite fast on Saturday, February 23, less than 10 days after the terror attack. Neither did the ‘prevailing Indo Pak situation’ come in way of him rushing to Puducherry to show solidarity by sitting on a dharna with Puducherry chief minister who was protesting against the implementation of the traffic safety rule of wearing a helmet.

Kejriwal today says that we all stand as one nation today. Except, this feeling of ‘standing as one nation’ did not seep in when India faced one of the worst ever terror attacks in recent times.

The irony was not lost on twitterati who immediately called him out on his dharna-drama.


Some even pointed out that it is perhaps because of the situation that Kejriwal’s dharna may not get as much media attention as he would have liked.


Many took this opportunity to take digs at Kejriwal.


Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party supporters are feeling cheated.

Ayodhya Dispute: Hearing delayed again as Muslim side say translation not examined, SC proposes mediation

OpIndia Staff
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Ayodhya Dispute: Hearing delayed again as Muslim side say translation not examined, SC proposes mediation

The hearing in the long impending Ayodhya land dispute case which was to be heard by the Supreme Court today has been postponed to March 5. The hearing in the case before the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court could not commence in view of the disagreement between the parties over the authenticity of translation of records.

Earlier, during the proceedings, the court reiterated that it is in favour of a mediation on the matter as it is not only thinking about the ownership of land but also about healing relationships. “Even if there is one per cent chance for mediation between parties, we should give it an opportunity,” Justice SA Bobde said.

However, the Hindu parties represented by Senior Counsel C S Vaidyanathan and Ranjit Kumar were not open to the idea of mediation. The Muslim groups represented by Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhawan expressed their willingness for mediation if the Court directed so.

The Court will pass orders on next Tuesday on whether the issue should be referred to a Court appointed mediator.

The hearing was adjourned for six weeks to enable the parties to examine the translations of records prepared by the UP Government. The parties were directed by the Court to examine the records and point out their objections. CJI Gogoi made it clear that the hearing will commence only if parties accept the translations prepared by the UP Government as authentic.

While Senior Advocate C S Vaidyanathan, who appeared for Ram Lalla, endorsed the authenticity of translations, Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhawan, who appeared for Sunni Waqf Board, objected.

Significantly, Vaidyanathan said that the translations were completed by 2017 itself and all the parties had accepted the same. He added that at that time no party had raised any objections on the translations. But Rajeev Dhavan maintained that his party has not examined the translations.

In view of this disagreement, the CJI remarked that the Court will not waste its time if parties are not agreeable on translations.

The hearing, which was supposed to be held late last month on January 29, was postponed due to the unavailability of Justice SA Bobde, who is part of the five-judge Constitution bench hearing the case.

This was, however, the second the time hearing in the long-delayed case has been postponed in this month. On January 8, CJI Ranjan Gogoi had formed the 5-judge bench for the case which included Justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, UU Lalit and D Y Chandrachud apart from the CJI. But when the hearing started before the bench on January 10, Justice UU Lalit recused himself from the case. He had done so because advocate Rajiv Dhawan, who represents the Muslim side in the case, pointed it out that Justice Lalit had represented former UP CM Kalyan Singh, in contempt of court case twenty-four years ago. Although that case was not directly linked to the Ayodhya case, Justice Lalit had decided to recuse himself. Therefore, the hearing was adjourned until January 29.

Yusuf Azhar, brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, and many more top JeM terrorists believed to be killed, key ammunition dump destroyed

OpIndia Staff
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Yusuf Azhar, brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, and many more top JeM terrorists believed to be killed, key ammunition dump destroyed

On Tuesday early morning, the Indian Air Force conducted a ‘non-military pre-emptive strikes’ against the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist camp in Balakot to counter multiple potential fidayeen attacks.

The Government of India in a press statement declared that Indian Air Force had conducted airstrikes based on credible intelligence that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country and Fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. Reportedly, nearly 250 terrorists belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammad, trainers, senior commander,  and other operatives have been eliminated.

Meanwhile, based on intelligence sources, ANI has released photographs of the annihilated site at Balakot, where Jaish-e-Mohammad was running a terror camp.

According to the ANI reports, the intelligence sources suggest that an ammunition dump which had more than 200 AK rifles, uncountable rounds, hand grenades, explosives and detonators has also been destroyed.

 

Image Source: ANI

The Indian Air Force had targetted key Jaish e Mohammed operatives. Reportedly, in the strike that took place on a hilltop in a forested location, Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, brother-in-law of JeM Chief Masood Azhar has been killed. Yousuf Azhar was one of the terrorists who had hijacked the Indian Airline flight IC-814 to Kandahar in 1999. India had to release JeM chief Masood Azhar in exchange for the passengers who were onboard the Indian aircraft.

Ibrahim Azhar(L)- the elder brother of Masood Azhar who was also involved in the IC-814 hijacking and Mufti Azhar Khan Kashmiri, head of Kashmir operations (R)/ ANI

Maulana Ammar, associated with Afghanistan and Kashmir ops and Maulana Talha Saif, brother of Maulana Masood Azhar and head of the preparation wing have also been killed in the air strikes.

Maulana Ammar (L) Maulana Talha Saif (R) Image Source: ANI

The reports further suggest that the operation was an intelligence-based counter-terror strike and not a military action for the sake of war. Reportedly, the air strikes have resulted in the demolition of entire terror set up in the suicide bombing training center in Balakot and over 300 terrorists have been eliminated.

In the photographs, it is also clearly visible that flags of USA, UK, and Israel have been painted on staircases inside Jaish e Mohammed facility in Balakot.

Flags of USA, UK and Israel Image Source: ANI

In an operation in the early hours of the day at 3.30 a.m, the IAF jets had pounded terror camps Balakot, Muzaffarabad, and Chakhoti in the well-planned strike involving a fleet of IAF jets. Nearly 200-300 casualties on the side of Pakistan have been reported.

Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory: Australia

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory: Australia

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has issued a statement responding to India’s air strike on Jaish‑e‑Mohammed terror camps in Pakistan in the early hours of 26th February.


The media release issued by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Australia states that the Australian government is concerned about relations between India and Pakistan following the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February, which Australia has condemned.

India’s Foreign Secretary has stated that India has conducted operations targeting terrorist groups based in Pakistan, the statement notes.

Australia has said that Pakistan must take urgent and meaningful action against terrorist groups in its territory, including Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The statement stressed that Pakistan must do everything possible to implement its own banning of Jaish-e-Mohammed, and it can no longer allow the terror organisations to operate from its territory.

Australia also urged both the countries to exercise restraint, to avoid any action which can endanger peace and security in the region, and asked India and Pakistan to resolve the issues peacefully through dialogue.

The full statement issued by Australia can be seen below.

DRDO successfully test fires indigenously developed QRSAM off Odisha coast

OpIndia Staff
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DRDO successfully test fires indigenously developed QRSAM off Odisha coast

India has successfully test-fired the quick reaction surface to air missile (QRSAM) off the coast of Odisha on Tuesday.


The missile was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in cooperation with Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Dynamics Limited for the Indian Armed Forces.

Unnamed sources were quoted by Odisha Sun Times as saying that the indigenously developed sleek and highly mobile air defence system was fired from a canister mounted on a rotatable truck-based launch unit from Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore district.

The all-weather weapon system has a strike range of 25 to 30 km and is capable of tracking and firing. The QRSAM was developed as a replacement for the ‘Akash’ missile defence system. It is also equipped with electronic countermeasures against jamming by aircraft radars.

As per reports, the missile has 360-degree coverage, lightweight, high mobility and shorter second reaction time as compared to ‘Akash’. It also uses solid fuel propellant and is capable of hitting multiple targets and low flying objects.

The successful test firing of the missiles comes on a day when the entire country is euphoric after the Indian Air Force crossed the International Border into Pakistani territory to conduct strikes against JeM terror camps.

Media spreads lie the Mirage 2000 jets used in India’s air strike on terror camps in Pakistan are made by HAL

OpIndia Staff
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Media spreads lie the Mirage 2000 jets used in India’s air strike on terror camps in Pakistan are made by HAL

In the early hours of 26th February, Indian Air force destroyed training camps of Jaish‑e‑Mohammed in Balakot in Pakistan, avenging the Pulwana terror attack. According to reports, 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets were using this decisive strike against terror camps deep inside Pakistan.

While reporting about the strike, several media outlets claimed that the Mirage 2000 jets of IAF are manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited under licence from Dassault Aviation. Several media outlets like CNN News 18, Wion News, Scroll, India Times etc made the same claim.

Screenshot from Wion

 

Screenshot from Scroll

The article by Wion was titled ‘All you need to know about Mirage-2000 fighter jets which destroyed terror camps across LoC’, and India Times article was ‘Here Is All About Mirage-2000, IAF’s Key Fighter Which Has Been Kicking Pakistan For 20 Years’. The Scroll article was titled ‘Watch: Glimpses of the IAF’s Mirage 2000, the plane used in the air strike on terror camps’.

Screenshot from India Times

The articles were claiming to provide comprehensive information about the fighter jets used by India in the operation, but all of them provided one wrong information, that the jets are made in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited under licence from Dassault in France.

But the fact is, although HAL manufactures some fighter jets under licence from the original manufacturers, the Mirage 2000 is not one of them. India has 3 squadrons of Mirage 2000, which means 54 aircraft, and all of them were made by Dassault in France. When India first bought 40 Mirage 2000 planes, 36 single seater fighter jets and 4 twin-seat trainer jets, there was a plan to buy 110 more jets, and they were to be made by HAL under licence. But that plan never materialised, and therefore HAL never made the Mirage 2000. After that, India ordered 10 more Mirage 2000 jets from Dassault.

Although HAL does not make the Mirage 2000, they are upgrading the jet for Indian Air Force, and the aircraft that had crashed earlier this month in Bengaluru was a Mirage 2000 recently upgraded by HAL. The plane had crashed just before take-off during an acceptance trial by two IAF trainer pilots, killing both of them.

At present, HAL manufactures Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter plane under licence from Russia, although the jets made by HAL cost about ₹150 crore more than what is charged by the Russian manufacturer. HAL also makes the Hawk trainer under licence from BAE Systems in UK.

Screenshot from CNN News 18

The CNN News 18 report has corrected now, saying Mirage 2000 is made by Dassault, but screenshots above show how the report looked earlier. Other media houses are still carrying the wrong information about HAL making the jets.

The claim that HAL makes the jets used in today’s strike in Pakistan is not just an error by media houses, it is also part of the anti-Rafale deal narrative propagated by Rahul Gandhi.


The Congress president has been claiming that the Rafale deal was snatched from HAL and given to Anil Ambani and trying to prove that HAL is fully capable of making the jet, despite the poor record of HAL in delivering jets in time. Some journalists even used this false claim to drive home the point being made by Rahul Gandhi.

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