IAF counts targets hit, not casualties, says Air Chief on Balakot strike

The Indian Air Force counts the targets it hits, not casualties, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said on Monday, keeping out of a political row over how many people were killed in the IAF strike on the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

What the Air Chief said

In his first comments since the February 26 strike, Dhanoa said any figure would have to come from the government, as the air force was in no position to say how many people were inside the facility. The toll, he said, depended on how many were present. He maintained that the bombs had hit their intended targets, and asked why Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would have responded if the IAF had merely dropped bombs in a forest.

The political row

The pre-dawn strike came 12 days after the Pulwama bombing that killed 40 CRPF personnel. In the hours after it, government officials estimated that 325 Jaish militants, many of them new recruits and their trainers, had been killed. Pakistan attempted a retaliatory strike last week but could not cause significant damage.

When reports from Pakistan disputed the claim, opposition leaders asked the government to give a figure. Union minister of state SS Ahluwalia sought to distance the government from the speculation, stressing that it had not given any number. On Sunday, however, BJP president Amit Shah said in Gujarat that more than 250 terrorists had been killed, reviving the debate. Congress leader Kapil Sibal asked whether the government had shared this information with Shah, and if so, why it had not done the same with opposition leaders. He accused Shah of politicising the strike.

Wing Commander Abhinandan

While countering Pakistan’s retaliatory raid, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s MiG-21 Bison crashed seconds after he shot down an F-16. He was captured and returned to India on Friday after about 60 hours in Pakistani custody. Asked about reports that he was eager to fly again, Dhanoa said that would depend on his medical fitness after the ejection, and that he would return to a fighter cockpit once declared fit.

What happened next

Amit Shah became Union Home Minister in May 2019.

See also: political leaders

Originally published on 4 March 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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