Balakot airstrike: Amid the emerging apprehension between India and Pakistan over the issue of Balakot air attack, Foreign Minister of the neighbouring country Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan does not want a war and asked has also urged India to come to the table to resolve all outstanding issues. “Today's strike demonstrates our right, will and capability to defend ourselves. We do not want war. We hope India will come to the table to resolve all outstanding issues,” news agency PTI quoted Qureshi as saying. His comment came hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) targeted military installations in India in response to Indian counter-terrorism operations but their attempts were foiled successfully though one Indian pilot is ‘missing in action’.


Earlier in the day, Islamabad claimed that it hit back at India by bringing down two Indian military aircraft, one of which crashed in Pakistan occupied Kashmir while the other fell in Jammu and Kashmir. The claims made by Pakistan came in the backdrop of India’s action which killed as many as 350 terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in the pre-dawn strike on the terror camps in Pakistan’s Balakot region on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, India handed over to Pakistan a dossier on ‘specific details’ of involvement of the JeM in the Pulwama terror attack on CRPF as also the presence of camps of the UN-proscribed terror outfit in that country. The dossier was handed over to the Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan, who was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs to lodge a strong protest over Pakistan Air Force targeting Indian military installations, a day after the Indian counter-terror action against the JeM.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Pakistan was conveyed that India expects Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorism emanating from territories under its control. In response to the Indian counter-terror operation, Pakistan air force tried to target certain locations in Jammu and Kashmir Wednesday morning which was countered by IAF jets.

In the engagement, India shot down a Pakistani jet while an Indian IAF pilot was captured by the Pakistani authorities. India also lost a MiG 21 aircraft.