Pulwama attack changes India-Pakistan dynamics
India signalled its intent to push back against future terror attacks on its soil with a military response last week, a move that will likely have wide ramifications.
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THE potential for an outbreak of war between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan alarmed the world last week, prompting global calls for restraint. Fortunately, the two countries stepped back from the brink.
The series of events started with a terrorist attack at Pulwama in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir on Feb 14, where at least 40 paramilitary soldiers were killed. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), listed as a terrorist organisation by the UN, claimed responsibility.
India retaliated with a bombing raid on what it said was a JeM seminary and terror training facility at Balakot in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Feb 26. Things escalated the next day after Pakistan sent planes to bomb an army facility in India. In the ensuing air battle, India lost one plane, an MiG-21, and reports from the Indian Air Force (IAF) suggest that a Pakistan F-16 plane was also shot down by the MiG-21 before it was hit by enemy fire. Both planes reportedly fell on the Pakistani side of the border with the Indian pilot surviving and eventually being returned to India. After that, despite heavy shelling from both sides, things fortunately did not spiral out of control.
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