Economy

Surgical Strike 2.0: Where is Balakot in Pakistan?

Updated : March 14, 2019 12:32 PM IST

For long, the town has been associated as a terror training camp.

Balakot is a town in the Mansehra district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

The Indian Air Force at early hours on Tuesday struck Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, said foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale. Reports on Tuesday morning claimed that 12 Mirage 2000 Indian Fighter jets dropped 1,000 kg of bombs on the said terror camps and the casualties from the operation stood between 200 and 300. The Balakot training camp was operated by JeM commander Maulana Yusuf Azhar. Here are a few things about Balakot:

1) Balakot is a town in the Mansehra district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is about 40 km from Muzaffarabad sector in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

2) On October 8, 2005, the town was destroyed by an earthquake and was rebuilt with the help of the Pakistani government and Saudi Public Assistance.

3) The north-eastern Pakistani town is located on the banks of Kunhar river, almost at two-third lengths from its origin at Lake Dharam Sar and later confluences with the Jhelum river.

4) For long, the town has been associated as a terror training camp.

5) The history of the city is not well recorded until the time Britishers invaded the region.

6) Mughal Empress Nur Jahan, while on her way to Kashmir, used the route below Balakot near Garhi Habibullah Khan, another town in the Mansehra district.

7) After the independence in 1947, parties were launched from the region to put Kashmir State Army on hold along the current Line of Control.

8) The main city area of Balakot is inhibited by Gujjar, Awan, Swati, Syed, Turk and Mughal tribes.

9) All phone lines were shut down in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region after the attacks were reported.

10) The Indian Air Force entered the Pakistani airspace from Muzaffarabad sector in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and dropped about 1,000 kg of explosives.

11) The attack was a pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group and not in retaliation to February 14 JeM terrorists attack that killed 44 paramilitary soldiers in Pulwama, Kashmir.