[Quite plausibly, the lapse of 43 days is on account of the time taken to
carefully erase all the footprints of a terror training camp.

Even the satellite imageries, as analysed by independent foreign experts,
show no damage to any constructed structure.
(Ref.: For a comprehensive account and reasoned analysis: <
https://scroll.in/article/918686/opinion-on-balakot-and-after-real-mystery-is-how-the-indian-response-has-been-touted-as-a-triumph?fbclid=IwAR0QxrawU6JG2kfhIhW25MRabQwjYtIV-BHei8MAXUbEPV2ryrV5pm-i2P8
>.)
So, nothing very much new.
Yet ...

<<On their way to the madrassa, which was claimed to have been destroyed by
India, the media team was shown three different places. They were told that
IAF dropped the payload there, and the correspondent says only a few
craters and uprooted trees could be noticed.
The BBC reporter said the place was isolated and away from human
habitation.
The team was then taken to the hill top where the madrassa is located. The
BBC scribe said that "looking at the structure, it did not look like
newly-built, or they suffered any damage in the attack".
The entire building was still intact, and some of its parts looked quite
old, and in the adjacent mosque hall, 150-200 children were studying.
However, when the authorities were asked about the delay in arranging the
tour, they cited "the unstable situation made it difficult to take people
there".>>

The original site, which can be visited by clicking on the link below,
contains a photograph and a video clip.]

https://www.news18.com/news/world/pakistan-takes-media-to-balakot-air-strike-site-curtails-interactions-2096733.html?fbclid=IwAR1yZ8-06qCUfn0EtsDdFSI1toNiiflIg60S6lPykrOYwtESroGI9N29Dvo

43 Days After Balakot Air Strike by IAF, Pakistan Takes Media Team And
Diplomats to 'Site'
The Hindi website of BBC reported that one of its correspondents was also
among the team that visited the "air strike site" in Pakistan's Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province, bombed by the IAF in retaliation for the February 14
Pulwama terror attack in which at least 40 CRPF troopers were killed.

IANS

Updated:April 10, 2019, 11:26 PM IST

43 Days After Balakot Air Strike by IAF, Pakistan Takes Media Team And
Diplomats to 'Site' A general view of a building, which according to
residents was a madrasa. that IAF had bombed in Balakot (Reuters)

New Delhi: Forty-three days after the Indian Air Force struck
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror training camps in Pakistan's Balakot, the
Pakistani government took representatives of some Islamabad-based
international media houses and foreign diplomats to the area but directed
them not to "speak too long" to local residents.

The Hindi website of BBC reported that one of its correspondents was also
among the team that visited the "air strike site" in Pakistan's Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province, bombed by the IAF in retaliation for the February 14
Pulwama terror attack in which at least 40 CRPF troopers were killed.

India claimed to have destroyed a camp belonging to the JeM in the air
strike, inflicting "a large number of casualties", a claim that was refuted
by Pakistan that said besides some trees which were felled, and a person
who sustained injuries, no one was killed.

The Pakistani government had then assured the media that they would be
taken to the place where India claimed to have conducted "surgical
strikes". However, the government later backed off from its promise.

Pakistan Armed Forces Spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted a
video showing glimpses of the visit, saying that most of the international
media journalists were based out of India. "Saw the ground realities anti
to Indian claims for themselves," he said, refuting India's claims of
having caused massive dstruction at the site.

 Embedded video

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor
✔
@OfficialDGISPR
 A group of international media journalists mostly India based and
Ambassadors & Defence Attachés of various countries in Pakistan visited
impact site of 26 February Indian air violation near Jabba, Balakot. Saw
the ground realities anti to Indian claims for themselves.

27.4K
11:07 PM - Apr 10, 2019
12.2K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy



The BBC Hindi correspondent who was part of the team mentioned after
boarding a helicopter at Islamabad, said they landed at a place near
Mansehra. Following that, they passed through some difficult, mountainous
terrain for the next one-and-a-half hours.

On their way to the madrassa, which was claimed to have been destroyed by
India, the media team was shown three different places. They were told that
IAF dropped the payload there, and the correspondent says only a few
craters and uprooted trees could be noticed.

The BBC reporter said the place was isolated and away from human
habitation.

The team was then taken to the hill top where the madrassa is located. The
BBC scribe said that "looking at the structure, it did not look like
newly-built, or they suffered any damage in the attack".

The entire building was still intact, and some of its parts looked quite
old, and in the adjacent mosque hall, 150-200 children were studying.

However, when the authorities were asked about the delay in arranging the
tour, they cited "the unstable situation made it difficult to take people
there".

The officials said they believed "the time to provide a tour to the media
was appropriate now".

They also denied that a team of a news agency and local journalists were
stopped from entering the premises.

When Major General Asif Ghafoor, the Director General of the Inter-Services
Public Relations (ISPR), the armed forces' media wing, was asked about
journalists spotting the name of Maulana Yusuf Azhar - the brother-in-law
of JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar - on the madrassa board, he did not give
a direct answer. He said they were looking into the funding of the
madrassa, and focusing on the courses provided there.

A board in the madrassa read it was closed from February 27- March 14.
According to a teacher, the step was taken as an "emergency measure".

When the media team tried to speak to the local residents, they were told:
"Be quick... don't talk for too long."

-- 
Peace Is Doable

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