The caretaker PM emphasised that Pakistan's airstrikes inside Iran, which was in retaliation for Iran's breach of Pakistani airspace, is meant to send a "signal to India and the entire region."
The Pakistani strikes conducted in Iran's Saravan region, Sistan and Balochistan provinces located on the border followed a similar offensive by Iran inside a village in the Panjgur district of Balochistan on 16 January. The strikes were the first attack on the Iranian territory since the Iran-Iraq war.
"After the airspace violation, Pakistan had no choice but to respond to Iran. The response definitely sent a signal to India and the entire region," The News International quoted Kakar. "It was a tough decision because we were prepared to immediately respond to such actions from India. But, Pakistan does not have a territorial conflict with Iran. The whole world was watching Pakistan to see how we would react to such violations."
2019 Balakot airstrike
On 26 February 2019, an airstrike at Pakistan's Balakot was allegedly carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) at Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)* terror camp.
New Delhi stated that its fighter jets struck a JeM terror camp in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in overnight air raids on 26 February 2019. Pakistan, however, has consistently denied India's charges, alleging that the Indian jets deliberately struck an empty patch of land on a hilltop.
*terrorists banned in Russia and other countries