At 3.45am on February 26, 2019, the then Air Chief BS Dhanoa made a telephone call to National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. “Bandar mara gaya,” he said in Hindi, meaning “the monkey has been killed”.
The message meant that the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp at Balakot in hinterland Pakistan had been taken down by Indian fighter jets in a daring pre-dawn operation across the border, the Hindustan Times has reported.
NSADoval, in turn, informed Prime Minister NarendraModi. On the anniversary of the strike, defence minister RajnathSingh said that it has shown India's strong will to act against terrorism.