The Pulwama attack in February 2019 was among the major hits India took in recent years from terrorists trained in Pakistan. The nation has not recovered from such shocks. As many as 40 CRPF soldiers were killed in the attack by a suicide bomber on a convoy of security forces. India responded 12 days later with Air Force jets bombing a hilly area suspected to be hideouts and training centres for pro-Kashmiri Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit operating from Pakistani soil. Pakistan made light of the attack, did not acknowledge any deaths, and sent its fighter jets a day later to browbeat India. India lost a fighter jet and its pilot was taken into custody by the Pakistani authorities, only to be returned a little later.
Now, the statement by Pakistan’s Science and Technology minister Fawad Chaudhry in the National Assembly, giving credit to Prime Minister Imran Khan for the attack in Pulwama, is seen as the first official confirmation that the Pakistani establishment was involved in the attack. Yet, short of an official confirmation, it is well-acknowledged that the Pakistani military intelligence service, the ISI, is directly involved in training and inducting people into terrorism through agencies like the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar e Taiba. Why, even Osama bin Laden of Al Qaeda was known to have been given sanctuary near the military headquarters by the Pakistani establishment before he was targeted and killed by the US in a midnight operation in Abbottabad.
Overall, what India gained from the action in Balakot was the fear that the IAF was able to instill in the Pakistani establishment and the military brass in particular. The Indian fighter jets managed to reach close to the military headquarters in Rawalpindi that night without being challenged. Pakistanis could only scramble their jets but could not take on the intruding IAF planes. But, Pakistanis gained the upper hand a day later by downing a freshly intruding Indian fighter jet.
Fact is that India gains nothing from the minister’s statement. He has stated only what India already knew. To the international community, Pakistan will have the luxury of saying these were simply soundbytes sans stuff or a political circus in the national assembly. Fact is also that Pakistan did not get a fitting response from India after Pulwama; Balakot was by all reckoning a small show, though PM Modi gained votes on that count. We lack the cutting edge in most spheres of military action.