Balakot airstrike made it clear that terrorists can't escape our forces: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that the Balakot airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force had sent a clear message that it was not safe anymore for the terrorists to continue using areas "beyond Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB)" for anti-India activities.

"Balakot reflected our approach against the employment of terrorism as a low-cost option against India. It also indicated that terrorists, terrorist infrastructure and terrorist training facilities in areas beyond LoC and International Border when employed against India, will no longer be safe haven," Singh said at the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi.

"It was made amply clear that terrorism will not remain a low-cost option that can proliferate under veiled threats and bogeys that have repeatedly been voiced by irresponsible and ill-informed leaders from across the border," he added.

The Defence Minister further said that the Balakot airstrike had led to changes in the perception of India in the minds of our neighbours.

"I have little doubt that Balakot strike forced the rewriting of many a manual and rule book across the LoC. Those who preferred to place India in an imaginary understanding of the past were brought into the reality of the present and its potential manifestation in the future," Singh said.

Hailing the operation, Singh added, "Balakot will continue to reiterate India's intent to employ the most appropriate resources for the intended impact, with an element of unpredictability and innovation as an integral part of the endeavour. It is this factor that must remain uppermost in our minds."

On the one year anniversary of the airstrike, Singh also thanked all partners and friends across the globe for recognising the "challenge posed by terrorism to be greater than narrow parochial pronouncements".

Further speaking about the way forward, the Defence Minister said that India had adopted some big structural changes to "tackle threats to our nation", and urged all stakeholders to contribute in making the changes effective.

"We have initiated some major structural changes in the way we intend tackling threats to our nation. It will take some time for the entire set up to be fully operational. This transition time is crucial and we need to keep the guard up," Singh said.

"All stakeholders need to contribute to making these changes effective and efficient. Of course, there will be some teething problems in the initial days. We need to be ready for these and use our professional knowledge to find suitable and effective solutions," he added.

On Wednesday, Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria flew a sortie in MiG-21 of 51 Squadron with two Mirage-2000s and Sukhoi-30MKI from Srinagar airbase to mark the completion of one year of Balakot airstrike.

Last year, the Indian Air Force had carried out an airstrike in Pakistan's Balakot, targetting Jaish-e-Muhammed's (JeM) terror training camps in response to a terror attck on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which at least 40 personnel were killed.