How did India plan the JeM attack?

The pre-dawn attack air strike by Indian Air Force on Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest terror camp in Balakot, Pakistan involved over 200 hours of planning in which every aspect was taken care of. The intelligence input warned of another suicide terror attack which could be bigger than Pulwama - at any place across India.

Soon after the input, a series of meetings were held among the top government officials and ministers concerned which included all three chiefs; Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and Indian Army and National Security Advisor (NSA) to give befitting reply to the JeM terrorists.

The final decision to carry out an air strike was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Doval and IAF chief, Air chief. The meeting finalised an air strike as the only option to take revenge for security personnel killed in Pulwama attack and decided to give big jolt to JeM who was planning to carry out another strike. Only 7 people knew the timing of attack.

Mirage jets left their base in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and after mid-air refuelling, they struck multiple terror camps in Balakot around 3:40 AM. Also, 16 Sukhoi fighter jets were baking over 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets across the Line of Control (LoC).

It was decided that the revenge would take place on the 13th day of Pulwama attack to pay “best homage” to the slain CRPF personnel who lost their lives.

The attack is seen as the first ever cross-border air strike India has carried out in nearly five decades.