A string of South Indian celebrities like Ram Charan, Samantha Akkineni, Jr NTR, Hansika Motwani, Mahesh Babu and several others took to social media to salute pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) following reports that they crossed the Line of Control (LoC) with their fighter jets and returned after dropping a payload in Pakistan.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan claimed that the IAF fighter jets dropped the payload near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and returned in haste after the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its war planes.
“Bravo India”, tweeted megastar Rajinikanth.
Meanwhile, Kamal Haasan said, "Our 12 return safely home after wreaking havoc on terrorist camps in Pakistan. India is proud of its heroes. I salute their valour".
Here’s what the other South Indian celebrities tweeted on India's Surgical Strike 2.
Jr NTR: "Our country gives a fitting reply. #IndiaStrikesBack . Salute to the Indian Air Force #JaiHind ".
Mahesh Babu: ""Extremely proud of our #IndianAirForce. Salutes to the brave pilots of IAF".
Samantha Akkineni: ‘"No starting wars but ending it like’
Akhil Akkineni: "Indian Air Force we salute you with everything we can ! Proud day for our country..... #IndiaStrikeBack JAI HIND".
SS Rajamouli: Salute to the #IndianAirForce JAI HIND. #IndiaStrikesBack
The news of India's actions began trickling in the early hours of Tuesday morning and people across India lauded the government for taking a stand sooner than later.
Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale, in a press conference today morning released an official statement saying, "Credible information was received that JeM was attempting other attacks in the country. A pre-emptive strike became important. India struck the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot. India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all measures to fight the menace of terrorism. This non-military pre-emptive action was targeted specifically at JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties.”
