The Chief of Army staff was interacting with the media in after reviewing the passing-out parade of 264 trainees, comprising midshipmen and cadets of the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and 10 international cadets.

Although the Pakistani attack on the day following the Balakot strikes by IAF was thwarted by the Air Force air defence fighters, it was felt that presence of air defence units in the area could have caused more damage to the Pakistanis

In an interview to a private news channel aired on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he relied on his 'raw wisdom' to dispel doubts of defence experts who wanted the air strikes to be deferred due to inclement weather.

The Pakistani airspace has remained shut for traffic to and from India ever since hostilities broke out between the two countries after the Pulwama suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.

BJP president Amit Shah at an election rally in Bihar's Munger accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of going into mourning after the Balakot airstrike by the Indian Air Force

Union Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was a leader of the Jan Sangh, the former avatar of BJP, had complimented Indira Gandhi for the success in the Bangladesh Liberation War

Referring to the February 26 Balakot air strike and the 2016 cross-border strikes, he said: "Today India goes into Pakistan and does surgical strike. Was this possible earlier? India today goes into the enemy’s house and does air strike to eliminate them. Who made this possible? Who made it possible?"

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said Congress president Rahul Gandhi's statements are cut off from reality and are like a 'work of fiction'.

Aviation International News also mentioned the training aspects of the aircraft. Tucked away in the report was a telling sentence: “The first batch of pilots trained for Qatar in November 2017 were Pakistani exchange officers.”

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Pakistan government has reliable intelligence that India is devising a new plan to attack the country.