{"id":3449,"date":"2019-04-11T14:06:50","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T14:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=3449"},"modified":"2019-04-11T14:06:50","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T14:06:50","slug":"pakistan-army-takes-journalists-on-tour-of-indian-air-attack-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2019\/04\/11\/pakistan-army-takes-journalists-on-tour-of-indian-air-attack-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan army takes journalists on tour of Indian air attack site"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reporters, diplomats, were shown the sites in Jaba which were bombed by Indian Air Force on February 26.by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/profile\/asad-hashim.html\">Asad Hashim<\/a>4 hours ago<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"void(0)\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/04\/pakistan-army-takes-journalists-tour-indian-air-strike-site-190411081918594.html#\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/mritems\/imagecache\/mbdxxlarge\/mritems\/Images\/2019\/4\/11\/274505fc03764f00a84a395aad11f706_18.jpg\" alt=\"A signboard indicates the way to the Madrassa Taleem al-Quran, a Jaish-e-Muhammad religious school located near the bombing sites [File: Asad Hashim\/Al Jazeera]\" \/><figcaption>A signboard indicates the way to the Madrassa Taleem al-Quran, a Jaish-e-Muhammad religious school located near the bombing sites [File: Asad Hashim\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MORE ON&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/country\/pakistan.html\">PAKISTAN<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/04\/amnesty-lowest-number-prisoners-executed-2018-190409062502215.html\">Amnesty: Lowest number of prisoners executed in 2018<\/a>yesterday<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/04\/pakistans-farmers-struggle-rising-inflation-190406131506120.html\">Pakistan&#8217;s farmers struggle with rising inflation<\/a>5 days ago<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/04\/190405085411523.html\">Pakistan calls for &#8216;truth&#8217; from India on aerial dogfight<\/a>6 days ago<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/04\/india-partially-bans-civilian-movement-kashmir-highway-190404083955439.html\">India partially bans civilian movement on Kashmir highway<\/a>last week<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Islamabad, Pakistan<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8211; Pakistan&#8217;s military has taken a group of international journalists and diplomats on a tour of the site of the Indian air attacks in the northern town of Jaba, including the first-ever visit allowed to a school affiliated with the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) armed group that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/country\/india.html\">India<\/a>said it had been targeting in the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The group of journalists &#8211; mostly flown in from the Indian capital, New Delhi &#8211; and diplomats based in Islamabad was flown to Jaba, about 100km north of the capital Islamabad, by helicopter on Wednesday, a military statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The group was shown the sites where bombs from a February 26 air attack by the Indian Air Force hit on a mostly uninhabited mountainside in the remote northern area, a military action that heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours and saw Pakistan launch retaliatory attacks a day later.READ MORE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/02\/indian-air-raid-site-casualties-mysterious-madrassa-190227183058957.html\">At raid site, no casualties and a mysterious school<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India claims it hit a JeM training camp in the area, killing &#8220;a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis&#8221;, according to a foreign ministry&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mea.gov.in\/media-briefings.htm?dtl\/31090\/Statement+by+Foreign+Secretary+on+26+February+2019+on+the+Strike+on+JeM+training+camp+at+Balakot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>&nbsp;released shortly after the attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan disputed the claim, saying four Indian bombs hit a forest, lightly wounding a farmer and damaging his home and fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An Al Jazeera visit to the site of the air raids a day after the attack&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/02\/indian-air-raid-site-casualties-mysterious-madrassa-190227183058957.html\">found<\/a>&nbsp;four distinct bomb craters on a forested mountainside, with little evidence of other damage. Interviews with residents, witnesses, local officials and medical personnel offered no evidence of mass casualties, as the Indian government had claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Residents and witnesses told Al Jazeera at the time that there was a religious school close to the targeted site, but that it was undamaged in the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A road sign for the school said that it was led by JeM Chief Masood Azhar and administered by Muhammad Yousaf Azhar, the JeM chief&#8217;s brother-in-law. The sign has since been removed, and journalists on Wednesday&#8217;s military tour said it was no longer present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the first-ever visit to the site of the school, journalists and diplomats were shown a large room where children were rocking back and forth as they read the Quran, and a set of buildings that appeared to be undamaged, journalists who were on the trip told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It was difficult to be conclusive,&#8221; said one reporter, pointing out how military personnel monitored the group throughout the delegation&#8217;s visit and sometimes intervened during interviews with teachers and students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The buildings did not look tampered with &#8211; the roofs didn&#8217;t look new, everything there looked pretty old,&#8221; the reporter said when asked if there appeared to be any evidence of the buildings having been repaired in the 43 days since the air raids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A second journalist who was on the tour corroborated that account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The journalists said there were between 75 and 100 students present at the school, and that most appeared to live in on-site dormitories, which the delegation was denied access to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Teachers at the school denied any links to JeM, the journalists said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-table\"><tbody><tr><td><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Tensions remain high between India and Pakistan, as voting began in India&#8217;s staggered elections on Thursday [File: Asad Hashim\/Al Jazeera]<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&#8216;Reliable intelligence&#8217;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tensions remain high between India and Pakistan, as India&#8217;s staggered general elections kicked off on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, Pakistan&#8217;s foreign minister accused India of creating a &#8220;war frenzy&#8221; and preparing to attack Pakistani territory later this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Pakistan has reliable intelligence that India is hatching a new plan for aggression against Pakistan,&#8221; Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters on Sunday. &#8220;This can happen in between April 16 and 20.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India denied the charge,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MEAIndia\/status\/1114918222585720832\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">saying<\/a>&nbsp;the allegation was &#8220;irresponsible and preposterous&#8221;, according to foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this week, the two countries once again traded barbs when a US magazine reported that a count of Pakistan&#8217;s F-16 fighter jet fleet by US inspectors had revealed no missing aircraft, contradicting a claim made by India that it had shot down one of those jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">India and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/country\/pakistan.html\">Pakistan<\/a>&nbsp;have fought two of their three wars since gaining independence in 1947 over the disputed territory of Kashmir, which both countries claim in full but administer separate portions of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest round of hostilities was sparked by a suicide attack in the Indian-administered&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/issues\/indian-administered-kashmir.html\">Kashmir<\/a>&nbsp;town of Pulwama that killed more than 40 Indian security forces personnel in mid-February. India blamed Pakistan-based JeM and the country&#8217;s intelligence services for carrying out the attack, a charge Pakistan has denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Founded in 2000, JeM has carried out several high-profile attacks against Indian security forces and government targets, mostly in the disputed Kashmir region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following the air attacks, Pakistan has carried out a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/03\/190305135807274.html\">crackdown<\/a>&nbsp;against JeM and the Lashkar-e-Taiba armed groups, arresting dozens of leaders &#8211; including family members of JeM chief, Azhar &#8211; and seizing properties across the country, according to the interior ministry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reporters, diplomats, were shown the sites in Jaba which were bombed by Indian Air Force on February 26.by Asad Hashim4 hours ago MORE ON&nbsp;PAKISTAN Amnesty: Lowest number of prisoners executed in 2018yesterday Pakistan&#8217;s farmers struggle with rising inflation5 days ago Pakistan calls for &#8216;truth&#8217; from India on aerial dogfight6 days ago India partially bans civilian movement on Kashmir highwaylast week&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2019\/04\/11\/pakistan-army-takes-journalists-on-tour-of-indian-air-attack-site\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3450,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3449\/revisions\/3450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}