• CJCSC urged troop mobilisation
• COAS cautioned against hasty escalation

ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Secur­ity Committee (NSC) did not overrule the then army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa’s response plan during the 2019 Balakot crisis, according to at least two participants of that meeting who spoke on Monday.

“The then army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s response strategy was agreed upon and executed by the Pakistan Air Force,” said a federal minister who attended the meeting, adding that the then chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, Gen Zubair Hayat, had proposed a more radical option that was not accepted.

An armed forces official who also participated in the meeting gave a similar account, saying that then prime minister Imran Khan was “displeased” with Gen Hayat’s suggestion, which he thought “did not make any sense.”

The statements counter a recent claim by former defence secretary Lt Gen (Retd) Asif Yasin Malik, who said that during the 2019 NSC meeting held after the Balakot strikes, Gen Bajwa had advised restraint but was overruled by the air chief and the CJCSC.

The 2019 escalation followed a Feb 14 suicide bombing in Pulw­ama, India-occupied Kashmir, which killed 40 Indian paramilitary personnel.

India responded with airstrikes on Balakot on Feb 26, the first time since the 1971 war that Indian aircraft had crossed deep into Pakistani territory.

According to the two participants, who spoke separately to Dawn, the sequence of events began in the early hours of Feb 26, 2019, when then chief of general staff (CGS) Gen Nadeem Raza called Gen Bajwa at about 2:30am to report an Indian airstrike near Balakot.

Gen Bajwa asked for an assessment of the damage, and the CGS later informed him that no significant damage had occurred.

A seminary built during the Afghan war, used for religious education of local children, had been the intended target.

However, the missile missed its mark and landed some distance away, causing no casualties or structural damage.

Soon afterwards, the then air chief marshal Mujahid Anwar contacted Gen Bajwa to discuss the situation.

Gen Bajwa suggested that since no damage had been caused, the matter could be addressed during a meeting with the prime minister later that morning.

Before attending the NSC meeting, Gen Bajwa convened his core team at General Headquarters (GHQ), where the director general of military operations (DGMO) suggested that Pakistan must respond, but in a measured way, to avoid escalation.

The DGMO proposed that, unlike India’s night raid on a single site, Pakistan should strike multiple targets in broad daylight to send a clear message and restore deterrence.

The response operation, later known as Operation Swift Retort, was conceived during these consultations.

Gen Bajwa then took the plan to the National Security Committee meeting at the Prime Minister’s House. During the session, Gen Zubair Hayat spoke for about 40 minutes, emphasising that he was the prime minister’s principal adviser in times of war.

When Gen Bajwa asked for his concrete suggestion, Gen Hayat proposed full mobilisation of troops and a declaration of war against India.

According to participants, Gen Bajwa cautioned against hasty escalation. He then presented the operational plan prepared at GHQ, which was approved by the NSC. The detailed strategy was subsequently discussed with the PAF chief, who executed the air operation, they recalled.

On Feb 27, Pakistani aircraft struck six targets in India-occupied Kashmir, hitting “open spaces” to demonstrate their capability to hit Indian targets without escalating the tensions further.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2025