Balakot air strike, non-military action, clarifies Defence Minister

“I don’t want to comment on the Balakot strike,” said the Union Minister replying to a query on the Balakot air strike and clarified that the Indian Armed Forces were forced to take such an action against Pakistan as the neighbouring country ignored several warnings issued by India on terror camps based in Pakistan.

“This a specific terror strike, where the Indian Air Force targeted and destroyed terror camps in Pakistan. This is not a military action as there was no damage to civilians.”

When asked to comment about the casualties in the air strike, Nirmala distanced herself.

“Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had not given any casualty figure in the air strike and he had only given a statement and this is the government position. The strike is based on specific intelligence to thwart terror strikes and this has nothing to do with the upcoming polls,” Nirmala said.

When asked when Wing Commander Abhinandan will return to duty, the Defence Minister said that the senior Air Force officials will take a call on the subject.

It may be noted that the Foreign Secretary last week said the non-military and pre-emptive strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) training camp in Balakot had killed a large number of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

Nirmala’s remarks come amidst the opposition leaders asking the death toll details in the air strike. IAF, which carried out the attacks post the Pulwama suicide bombing made it clear that the target was bombed but the bodies were not counted.

The Pulwama attack and the Balakot air strike are making headlines as the BJP leader Amit Shah and Yeddyurappa have been claiming credit for the IAF strike.

Meanwhile, the BJP workers in Chennai have put posters greeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the ‘MIG – Hero’. The posters greeting Modi invited the public to throng for the Vandalur rally to be addressed by the PM Modi and the state AIADMK leaders.

Earlier, she distributed the first 10 identity cards to the beneficiaries of PMSYM, marking the launch of the scheme. Around 20,000 beneficiaries from Tamil Nadu would be joining the pension scheme, out of 72 lakh unorganised sector workers.

Appealing to the state government to increase the number of Common Service Centres and ‘Amma’ e-seva centres in the state, Nirmala said PMSYM along with similar schemes of the state government would fetch Rs 4,000 pension to the beneficiaries.

Unorganised sector workers up to 40 years of age can subscribe to PMSYM, which entails a minimum monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to them from 60 years of age. The scheme, announced in the Budget for 2019-20, is targeted at unorganised sector workers with a monthly income of up to Rs 15,000.

It mandates a monthly contribution of Rs 55 for an 18-year-old worker with equal contribution from the Centre. The worker joining the scheme at the age of 40 years would contribute Rs 200, while workers at the age of 29 years would pay Rs 100.