Foreign journalists, ambassadors visit impact site of Balakot strike

RAWALPINDI: A group of international journalists, mostly India based, ambassadors and defence Attachés of various countries visited impact site of 26 February Indian air violation, near Jabba, Balakot, said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Wednesday.

According to the military’ media wing, Director General (DG) ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor briefed the group about details of the event negating repeated false Indian claims with ground realities.

“Visitors were shown bomb craters of denied Indian air strike attempt in barren open spaces with no loss to life or infrastructure,” ISPR said and added that the group also visited nearby madrassa claimed by India for having been struck and killing scores of terrorists.

ISPR further said that the visitors freely interacted with students, children, teachers and saw for themselves that the Madrassa stood on ground untouched with only innocent local children undergoing education.

The DG ISPR reiterated, “India instead of pursuing false claims should accept the reality, stay a responsible state for peace in the region and especially to look inward to identify reasons for out of hand situation inside Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.”

The ISPR press release further stated that later, the group visited Army Public School (APS) Swat, a state of the art education facility with computer and science labs, Auditorium and sports stadium.

This was established by Pakistan Army as a gift for resilient people of Swat in recognition of their contributions and sacrifices in defeating terrorism as terrorists had specially targeted educational institutions during the unrest.

Later, the group also visited Sabaoon (morning light) de-radicalization Centre Malakand a rehabilitation facility for psychologically treating indoctrinated Juvenile and help them return to normal life and become useful citizens of society, read the statement.