Terming 'anti-national' those who question veracity of Balakot strikes is baffling: Mehbooba Mufti

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday targeted the Bhartiya Janata Party for portraying the Opposition as "anti-national" after they questioned the air strike by Indian Air Force at terror camps in Balakot in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.

"Calling those who question the veracity of Balakot strikes anti-national is baffling. However the opposition should not fall into this trap of changing the entire election discourse from pressing issues like demonetisation, GST, unemployment, farmers distress to these strikes," Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.

the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday said there was conflict in reports confirming IAF air strike carried out at multiple terror camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, which destroyed control rooms of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and some other infrastructure.

Taking to Twitter, Mehbooba said: "Post pre-dawn strikes carried out by IAF, conflicting reports coming in. Official communique by FS claims that terror training camps were bombed while Pak denied this & said that the planes made a hasty retreat after being spotted. Hope objective of both sides has been served."

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed that India on Tuesday carried out air strikes at a massive JeM camp in Balakot, eliminating a "large number" of terrorists, including top commanders.

The terror camp in a thick forest area atop a hill was led by Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Gauri, brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar.

The terror camps in Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad, capital of PoK, were struck by 12 Mirage 2000 jets with 1000 kg of explosives at around 3:30 am on Tuesday.

Pakistan Army also confirmed that Indian Air Force fighters penetrated the Line of Control (LoC) and dropped "payloads" in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). However, they denied any damage.

JeM carried out a ghastly terror attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 in which 40 security personnel were killed and five injured.

Pulwama terror attack had led to nationwide outrage and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed to punish those behind the attack.