MEA statement on IAF's 'non-military pre-emptive action' in Pakistan's Balakot differentiates it from surgical strike of September 2016

Gokhale’s statement that makes it amply clear that India has no intention to escalate tensions with Pakistan but will take all necessary steps to defend itself. Instead of the Ministry of Defence or the Indian Air Force addressing the press, it was Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale who read out a small statement in front of the media contingent in New Delhi on behalf of the Government of India on the “preemptive strike… in the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot” as the terror group was “attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country and fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose”. The address to the press by the Ministry of External Affairs was unlike the 29 September 2016 media interaction which was addressed by the then Director General Military Operations Lt Gen Ranbir Singh detailing out the action undertaken by Indian Special Forces across various locations in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir to destroy terror launch pads. Gokhale’s statement that “this non-military pre-emptive action was targeted specifically at the JeM camp” based on “credible intelligence” makes it amply clear that India has no intention to escalate military tensions, but will take all necessary steps to defend itself. In September 2016, Singh had said, “I have just spoken to the Pakistani director general of military operations and explained our concerns and also shared with him the operations that we had conducted last night.” While both the press conferences accused Pakistan of not adhering to its “commitment made in January 2004 not to allow its soil or territory under its control for any terrorists activities against India”, Singh had made it abundantly clear that the Indian Army “expect the Pakistan army to cooperate with us with a view to erase this menace of terrorism from our region”.