About the Book

On the night of 26 February 2019, the Indian Air Force struck Jaish-e-Mohammed’s training camp in Balakot, Pakistan—a decisive response to the Pulwama terror attack just a few days earlier. Pakistan denied the strike, the target, even the camp’s existence. But the truth couldn’t be buried. In this book, the author brings a startling eyewitness account of the Balakot strike—reports that shook the official narrative, with striking new details. Featuring an exclusive interview with the then Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, deep-dive satellite analysis, and unreleased intelligence, this book shatters the web of denial and deception that Pakistan had spun so skilfully for the international press. Balakot exposes the dark world of Jaish-e-Mohammed—its origins, mafiastyle funding, and deep ties with Pakistan’s shadowy power centres, including the ISI and the so-called Deep State. From cross-border infiltrations into Jammu & Kashmir to the terror group’s links with the Taliban’s new regime in Afghanistan, Balakot is a gripping account of a deadly network of terrorist links that puts Kashmir at the centre of an ever-brewing storm

About the Author

Italian journalist Francesca Marino has reported on South Asia for over thirty years. She contributes to Limes, Italian review of geopolitics, and writes for leading media in Italy, India, and Switzerland. She was awarded the prestigious Il Luigiano d’Oro prize for journalism in 2010. Francesca is founder and chief editor of Stringer Asia, an online magazine dedicated to South Asia. Her photoreportages have featured in major international publications, including Geo. She is the author of India in 100 Immagini (Laterza), Apocalypse Pakistan (with Beniamino Natale), and Balochistan: Bruised, Battered and Bloodied (Bloomsbury) and has translated Indian philosophy from English to Italian.