February 27
Indians on Tuesday took to the streets across the country to celeberate the air strikes on Pakistan across after the government said it carried out air strikes inside Pakistan, killing hundreds of militants in a training camp.
The reaction may be a sign that support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi is surging months before a general election, pollsters said. Patriotism may be having a greater influence than concerns about low farm incomes and weak jobs growth.
India said air force jets hit a training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the militant group that claimed credit for a Feb 14 suicide bombing attack that killed Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir, a mountainous region also claimed by neighbouring Pakistan.
“A very large number of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists” were killed, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said.
Eyewitness accounts reveal that one civilian was injured and a house in Pakistan received minor damage because of the air strikes.
“Modi ji has finally done it”, said Mr Sandeep Sharma, a driver in the Jammu region of India’s border state of Jammu and Kashmir, using an honorific for Mr Modi. “There’s a lot of anger against Pakistan here.”
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi speaks during a joint press statement at Hyderabad house in New Delhi, India, on Feb 18, 2019.
India’s opposition leaders, many of whom have banded together against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), congratulated the Indian Air Force (IAF), though they stopped short of praising Mr Modi.