In a desperate bid to ‘debunk’ and ‘expose’ the claims of “surgical strikes” by the India, Pakistan army flew international and local media to Line of Control (LoC).
In what international news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) called a “rare step” by the Pakistan army, 40 journalists from 20 media organizations were flown to the border area on Sunday to disprove the claims of “surgical strikes” conducted by the Indian Army.
“The army took the rare step of flying international media to the de facto border to make its case in a battle of competing narratives,” AFP wrote.
Image courtesy: Times of India
Calling India’s claims “white lies” Pak army reportedly reasoned that there has been no “signature of any surgical strikes” at the areas which were said to have witnessed the operation by Indian army.
Ever since the Indian army chief announced the successful completion of the cross border strike on September 29, Pak counterparts have been vehemently denying any military operation by India.
Pakistan army went on to downplay incident at international level by calling the incident “routine” exchange of fire.
“No such incident has taken place nor any such will be allowed to happen in future and if the adversary attempted so, it will be responded to with an ever strongest force,” Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa, a spokesman for the Pakistani army, was quoted saying to the journalists by Pak dailies ‘Dawn‘ and ‘The News International’.
The journalists were allowed to meet and speak to some nearby villagers and troop officers stationed at the LoC.
“If they’ve caused that damage to us, we don’t know any has been caused to us! You can go and meet the civilian population. Our side is open: to the UN mission, to the media, to the general public,” AFP quoted General Bjawa saying.
However, it looks like AFP has not entirely bought the claims of Pak army.
“…though villagers who spoke with a second AFP reporter in the area independent of the military-guided trip were also incredulous”, AFP wrote.
