In a blasting attack on Pakistan, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa said that the neighbouring country always underestimated India's national leadership and they did the same during the Balakot airstrikes. Speaking at a conclave on Friday, the IAF chief, who will retire later this month said: "You must remember that Pakistan has always underestimated our national leadership. Always. In the 1965 war, they underestimated Lal Bahadur Shastri. They never expected him to open up the front and go to Lahore," he said. "And then they were surprised. They had thought that he will be only fighting in Kashmir... They were surprised. In the Kargil conflict, they were again surprised. They never expected us to pull all our forces and get our Bofors guns and get the Air Force into it and take them out," the IAF chief said.

The IAF chief said that Pakistan doubted India's prowess in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. He added that the Pakistani administration had never imagined that India's leadership will allow a strike such as Balakot. "So they have always miscalculated. Even now, after Pulwama (terror attack) happened, I think they had miscalculated, thinking that our political leadership will not permit such a (Balakot-like) strike. It is not that our Air Force is not capable. They (Pakistan) know what our capability is. But they were always under the impression that our leadership will not (act)," he said. After the fatal Pulwama terror attack, in February this year, India carried out airstrikes across the LoC and destroyed terror camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province inside Pakistan. The strikes involving several fighter jets destroyed camps belonging to Pakistan-based terror outfits in Balakot.

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Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria appointed as Chief of the Air Staff

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, VM, ADC is the 25th IAF chief and assumed the post in December 2016 after Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha retired. The government has on Thursday announced that Air Vice Chief Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria will be the next Chief of the Air Staff. The announcement was made by Principal Spokesperson at the Ministry of Defence. As per reports, current Chief ACM BS Dhanoa will retire on September 30.

READ: Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria to be new IAF Chief of Air Staff: MoD

Chief ACM BS Dhanoa to retire

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa PVSM AVSM YSM VM ADC took over as the Chief of the Air Staff on January 1, 2017. He was commissioned in the IAF in June 1978 as a fighter pilot. Among many feathers in his hat, present chief ACM BS Dhanoa led the IAF punch during the ‘Limited War’ against Pakistan as the Commanding Officer of a front line ground attack fighter squadron. The proposal to hit the terror haven in Pakistan using IAF, in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack was given by Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa.

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READ: Congress questions IAF's Balakot strike, stumped on Pak PM's admission