India bombs terror camps across LoC in Pakistani side, Pakistan says it gave effective response

New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI) Combat jets of the Indian
Air Force bombed terror camps at multiple locations across the Line of Control
on the Pakistani side in a pre-dawn strike on Tuesday, 12 days after the
Pakistan-based terror group, Jaish-e-Mohammed carried, out the Pulwama attack
in Kashmir, government sources said. 
They said the Mirage 2000 fighter jets pounded JeM terror camps in Balakot,
Muzaffarabad and Chakoti in the well-planned strike, destroying the camps.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the
operation. 
Hours later, Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on
Security which was attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Sitharaman.
The sources said significant damage has been inflicted on the ground on the
Pakistani side.
A source indicated that the operation was carried out between 3:50 AM and 4:05
AM.
In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called an
“emergency meeting” at the Foreign Office for consultations, sources
said.
Qureshi will meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after the meeting in which
he will discuss the security situation with high-level officials, they said.
In an early morning tweet, Major General Asif Ghafoor, director general of the
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army,
said Indian aircrafts intruded from the Muzaffarabad sector. 
“Facing timely and effective response from Pakistan Air Force released
payload in haste while escaping which fell near Balakot. No casualties or
damage,” Ghafoor said in a tweet. 
“Indian Air Force violated Line of Control Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force
immediately scrambled. Indian aircraft gone back,” he claimed. 
India had put all IAF bases in the western sector on maximum alert after the
Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
After the Pulwama attack, Modi announced that the armed forces have been given
full freedom to respond to the strike.
Hours after the strike, the Indian Army tweeted a Hindi poem which says that
“if you are docile and polite before the enemy, he may consider you as a
coward, the way Kauravas treated Pandavas”.
The poem by Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ was tweeted by Additional
Director General, Public Information on its official handle. 
Peace overtures, the poem says, are possible only when you are in a powerful
position and capable to win.