FACT CHECK: Pak ex-diplomat’s statement on Balakot airstrike manipulated

Team Udayavani, Jan 13, 2021, 12:56 PM IST

New Delhi: As per reports, from various sources, the statement made by a former Pakistani diplomat stating that 300 died in Balakot after India’s air strikes has turned out to be false.

On January 10, several news agencies in India carried the news that ‘Agha Hilaly’ claimed on a Pakistani television show that 300 people had died in the Balakot airstrike conducted on February 26, 2019.

Later, when videos of the channel’s show was released on YouTube, it was revealed, that the ex-diplomat refered in the news report was Zafar Hilaly and not Agha Hilaly.

It was further revelaed that the video which showed him saying that 300 people had died was a doctored version of a clip from the television show.

The doctored video was the basis of the news reports published on January 10 which ahs been take ndown by most of them now.

On February 26, Indian Air Force had carried out an airstrike on a Jaish-e- Mohammad training site in Balakot after the terror group was found to be behind the February 12 attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir’s Pulwama in which 40 personnel of the armed police organisation were martyred.