INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Islamabad: Pakistan has escorted a group of foreign journalists and diplomats to the site of an Indian air strike to show that, opposite to
Delhi´s claims, no infrastructure was damaged, the military spokesman said.The visiting group, which Major General Asif Ghafoor said was
mostly based in Delhi, was shown observing a crater in Balakot in video published via Twitter late Wednesday, on the eve of India´s massive
The group saw the "ground realities" of the strike site, Ghafoor said in a caption accompanying the tweet.Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has campaigned tough on what he claims is the success of the February 26 strike
Indian officials have claimed up to 250 militants were eliminateed.Pakistan has denied from the start that there was any damage or
casualties, with Modi´s counterpart Imran Khan framing it as an election ploy.With the first phase of polls in India´s massive election
opening Thursday, Modi has styled himself as India´s "chowkidar" ("watchman"), and anyone even questioning the action against Pakistan is
given short shrift.But independent reporting by multiple local and international outlets who have visited the site found no evidence of a
major terrorismist training camp -- or of any infrastructure damage at all.An AFP reporter who visited just hours after the strike was
carried out saw damage only to trees and one mud hut
Local residents have said no one was eliminateed.The Atlantic Council´s Digital Forensic Research Lab said that open-source satellite
imagery indicated "only affects in the wooded area, with no damage being visible to the surrounding structures."The strike was in
retaliation to a suicide bombing in Pulwama on February 14 that eliminateed dozens of Indian paramilitary soldiers.It was followed by
Pakistani air strikes which hit open space in Indian territory and ignited a dogfight in the skies over the disputed region of Kashmir, the
worst confrontation between the nuclear-armed foes in years.Pakistan said it shot down two Indian war planes, with one falling on the Indian
side of the de facto Kashmir border
It captured the pilot of the other, releasing him days later in a tender to defuse tensions.India says just one of its planes was shot down,
and claimed that the moment plane was a Pakistani F-16 shot down by the Indian air force.Pakistan has denied that claim also, and Foreign
Policy has reported that the US had done a count of all Pakistan´s F-16s, with none lost.Kashmir has been divided between India and
Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.Both claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought two wars over
it.TheIndianSubcontinent has not verified the content of the source
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