The strike was
carried out on Wednesday night, senior military and diplomatic sources said at
a hurriedly called media briefing at the Ministry of External Affairs. The surgical strikes on terror launching pads
inside Pakistan on the intervening night of September 28 and 29, by the army
commandos 10 days after Uri left up to 38 terrorists and Pakistani soldiers
dead. Sources said para commandos went 2-3 km into Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir
(PoK) in Mi-17 choppers and destroyed six terror camps, inflicting heavy
casualties on terrorists and few Pakistani Army troops. The Indian troops
suffered no casualties in the operations.
“Based on very
specific and credible information which we received yesterday that some
terrorist teams had positioned itself along the line of control, the Army
carried out surgical strikes last night at these launch pads. The operations
were focused to ensure that these terrorists do not succeed in endangering
lives of citizens in our country. During the counter-terrorist operations,
significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who were
trying to support them. The operations have since ceased,” Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt. Gen
Ranbir Singh said. He sought the support of the Pakistan Army in erasing the
menace of terrorism. Pakistan has responded to the government statement saying
there has been "no such strike."
“We do not have any
plans to continue. However the Indian armed forces are fully prepared to deal
with any contingency which may arise. I have spoken to Pakistani DGMO and
expressed our concern. It is India’s intention to maintain peace and
tranquillity in the region but we cannot certainly allow terrorists to operate
across the Line of Control with impunity and attack our citizens,” said the
DGMO.
When the Indian Army had promised that Uri will be avenged "at a time and place of our choosing", many intellectuals dismissed it as empty bluster. Some even offered that it was the Army version of "law will take its own course." The Wednesday night of 28 September, 2016, would have taught the doubters to shelve their skepticism of the Indian Army. According to some TV channels, including Times Now, the special forces of the Indian army were para-trooped across the LoC and the operation was carried out within 500 metres to three kilometres into Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. The operation reportedly lasted for around five to six hours.
It is revealed that
the operation used combination of
heliborne & ground forces; it started
after midnight and ended around 4:30am on Thursday. No casualties to
Indian troops, heavy casualties were sustained by Pakistan-based terrorists.
Pakistani
PM Nawaz Sharif condemns “attack”, says “our desire for peace should not be
interpreted as our weakness”. Pakistan army contradicts Sharif and Indian army,
says no surgical strikes by India, instead only cross-border fire initiated. The
operation was aimed at preventing attacks being planned by Pakistan-based
militants, a senior army official said.
After paying back
Pakistan in the same coin, the Indian Army's morale is high; it has also
stepped up vigil along the LoC and the border in Jammu and Kashmir as well as
Punjab. All the three armed forces and paramilitary forces have been put on the
highest alert. The leaves of Army and BSF personnel have been cancelled. Some armchair critics may say jingoism and war-mongering are the twin
obsessions of a growing and increasingly prosperous middle class in India, and
the reaction to the latest attack is quite predictable. #ModiPunishesPak was trending top of
Twitter in India, hours after the media first reported "the strikes".
The other top trending hashtags included #SurgicalStrike and #Indian Army.
Interestingly,
as a report in The Times of India points out, India's national security adviser
Ajit Doval, who reportedly monitored the entire operation flanked by the Army
chief and defence minister Manohar Parrikar, got a call on Wednesday morning
from his American counterpart Susan Rice. According to the report, Rice
completely toed Indian line on Uri and "offered condolences to families of
the Uri attack victims and expressed support for India on the issue of
terrorism." This surgical strike is merely the culmination of a concerted
diplomatic and military initiative. Shri
Narendra Modi’s government deserves plaudits for handling it carefully.
In Today’s News Hour, Arnab Goswami happily thanked all the participants for unified view – said it is all about you and me; not something happening somewhere else. What was raided is terror camps, who were planning to launch at soft targets in India. If we sleep well today, it is all owed to Indian army; if there had not been such surgical strikes, some Indian city would have been in trouble and for saving all of us, army commandos risked themselves. Long live and we all owe everything to them. If you feel, this is jingoism, I am proud – proud to be speaking high of our armed forces ~ and there is no place for anybody here who criticises our forces which protect the Nation ensuring our peace and freedom !! ~ and we all feel, ONE with him. Jai Hind ~ S. Sampathkumar
29th Sept. 2016 #ModiPunishesPak #SurgicalStrike #Indian Army. #Indian valour.
