“The message of Balakot... was to tell Pakistani establishments and terror organizations that there will be a cost to pay for terror attacks in India which was effectively conveyed,” said former Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa, who retired from service on September 30.

The ever-tense relations between neighboring India and Pakistan dramatically worsened in February this year following a terrorist attack which claimed 40 lives in Pulwama, and India’s swift retaliation against the alleged perpetrators, Jaish-e-Mohammad, across the border in Balakot.

Islamabad, which denies having any ties with terrorist groups, accused New Delhi of violating its sovereignty – and the very next day launched a series of strikes against various Indian military installations in Jammu and Kashmir, provoking a dogfight in the air.

That escalation essentially turned Pakistani forces into a “legitimate target,” Dhanoa stated. Fortunately Pakistani strikes missed their targets, while Islamabad insists they never even intended to hit anything, only demonstrate resolve and capability.

..had their strikes been successful, we would have put a considerable weight of attack on their forward brigades.

The former air chief admitted some “stupid mistakes” were made during the skirmish, not mentioning the any specifics, but apparently meaning India’s loss of a MiG-21 fighter jet and failure to “impose significant costs” on the intruders.

Neither side risked to  escalate the situation any further, and the neighbors would eventually even exchange a number of friendly gestures. So either the recipient received India’s ‘message,’ or Pakistan assessed its chances as slim should a larger-scale conventional warfare erupt, Dhanoa said. 

Had they gone to war with us, they would have literally eaten the grass.

Despite relative calm in the military realm, politically the neighbors' relations are currently again at a new low, after India revoked the self-governing status of the part of Kashmir it controls. New Delhi argued that the move will help the fight against terrorism, boost the region’s economy and intergrate it into the rest of India.

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