UPA government rejected IAF's plan to attack terror camps in Pakistan soon after Parliament, 26/11 attacks: Former IAF chief

CHANDIGARH: Former Air Force chief BS Dhanoa on Saturday said that the UPA government had rejected the plan to attack terror camps in Pakistan after the 2001 Parliament and 2008 Mumbai attacks. He made the statement while attending VJTI's annual festival, Technovanza.

"After the J&K Assembly attack in 2001, the IAF started planning how to strike terrorist camps if there was any large scale terrorist attack in India. This proposal was put to the government twice," he said.

"We had put forward the plan once again to the government immediately after the Parliament attack," he added.

According to Dhanoa, the IAF was ready to strike terrorist camps in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir after Mumbai attacks, adding that the force then had a technical edge over the Pakistani air force.

"IAF has always been ready to strike and we have the strike capability. National leadership had to make a decision," he said.

He also added that it was the NDA government that gave a green signal to the IAF to carry out an airstrike in Pakistan's Balakot soon after the Pulwama terror attack.

"This time, the national leadership took the decision and we carried out," he said.