Lahore (Web Desk): Family of Masood Azhar has rejected the Indian media reports, claiming Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief is dead.
“Indian media has been publishing stories based on lies and without any authentication,” the family said.
The Indian media has claimed that Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar is dead.
#BREAKING: Reports suggest Maulana Masood Azhar is dead, he died on March 2. To be formally announced after intimation from Army hospital, Islamabad: Top Intel Sources. Input: @manojkumargupta, @Zakka_Jacob with more details
— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 3, 2019
CNN-News18 is trying to independently verify the news pic.twitter.com/ntFVMBPvFF
Senior journalist Hamid Mir also tweeted saying Masood Azhar is alive.
Mir said, “Masood Azhar is still alive some people only want him to come on media and say “India is again wrong”.
Masood Azhar is still alive some people only want him to come on media and say “India is again wrong” https://t.co/WjfpUmVEbj
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) March 3, 2019
Earlier, Indian Union Minister Surinder Singh Ahluwalia conceded that there were no casualties in the Balakot strike.
“The air strikes by India were just a warning,” said Ahluwalia in an interview with an Indian TV channel.
“Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on casualty of air strikes,” said Ahluwalia. “Rather, it was the Indian media and social media where the unconfirmed figures of terrorists killed were being calculated.”
On Sunday, a senior leader of the Indian National Congress Digvijaya Singh said that he had not seen a bigger liar than Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"I can only say that we have not seen a bigger liar than Narendra Modi," the politician said.
Speaking to reporters, Digvijaya Singh demanded the Modi government to present evidence of the Indian Air Force's “air strike” on alleged terrorist camps in Balakot, Pakistan.
"I am not questioning the recent IAF action against Pakistan-based terrorist camps. But pictures of any incident in open space can be accessed through satellite technology. So we should also give evidence, the way the United States government presented evidence of Osama bin Laden's killing before the world," NDTV quoted him as saying.
Singh also congratulated Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for releasing IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.
"I also congratulate the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan for showing us a new way of being a good neighbour and returning the brave Indian Air Force officer to us," the Congress leader said.
He also refuted Modi's claim that after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the Indian Air Force wanted to conduct a “surgical strike” against Pakistan, but the Congress-led UPA government nixed the idea.
