Did Pak Air Force officer own up Pulwama terror attack, call it ‘tactical brilliance’?

In a rare admission, Pakistan’s Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed, who is also Director General of Public Relations for the Pakistan Air Force, referred to the Pulwama attack as Pakistan’s “tactical brilliance”, even as tensions continue to simmer between New Delhi and Islamabad following the Pahalgam terror attack and ongoing Operation Sindoor. The video of his remarks at a press conference, which was also attended by foreign journalists, on Friday is being widely circulated on social media. The remarks on camera have raised hackles, as Pakistan has time and again denied its involvement in the Pulwama terror attack.

“If Pakistan’s land, skies, or waters are threatened, there will be no compromise...We tried to convey this with our tactical brilliance in Pulwama, and now we’ve shown our strategic skills too,” said Ahmed, whose remark also casts doubt on Pakistan’s denial of involvement in the April 22 Pahalgam attack.

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Ahmed’s comment caught the attention of social media users, who questioned Pakistan’s continued denial of involvement in the Pulwama attack till now.
“Did he really admit about Pulwama attack,” wrote an X user, sharing the video of Ahmed’s statement.
“Dear world, this is the reality of Pakistan—they have openly admitted their involvement in a terror attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers,” wrote another X user.

“Pakistan just confessed! Pulwama was tactical brilliance. That’s Pakistan Army admitting Pulwama wasn’t the doing of faceless terrorists. It was state-backed,” wrote a third X user.
Pakistan has always denied any links to terrorists and claims that India does not have any evidence to prove Islamabad’s role.

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However, recently, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif confirmed that Pakistan has harboured terrorists.
In an interview with Sky News, Asif admitted that Islamabad had backed terror groups in the past. “We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about 3 decades... That was a mistake, and we suffered for that,” he said.

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Later, former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto also accepted Pakistan’s past association with extremist elements, stating that the country has had a difficult history.

As many as 40 Indian paramilitary personnel were killed in the 2019 Pulwama terror attack when Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed’s suicide bomber targeted a Central Reserve Police Force convoy.
India responded to the Pulwama attack with the Balakot airstrike, targeting Jaish’s training camp in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

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