On February 26, 2019, fighter jets of the Indian Air Force bombed a terrorist camp in Balakot, Pakistan. The Balakot airstrike – as the operation came to be known – was the first time since the 1971 war that Indian warplanes attacked a target inside Pakistan. The cross-border bombing raid was in response to the February 14, 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

The already-high tensions between Delhi and Islamabad escalated even further after Pakistan responded to the Balakot airstrike with an attempted air raid of its own and the subsequent capture of an Indian Air Force pilot by Pakistan.  

On the 48th episode of In Our Defence, host Dev Goswami and “Def-Savvy” recall their experience of covering those tensed few days as journalists. With the benefit of four years of hindsight, the duo talks about some of the key takeaways of the Balakot airstrike and the consequent developments that pushed the two nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of war. Tune in!  

Produced by Anna Priyadarshini
Sound mix by Kapil Dev Singh