The tension along the border has increased again but this time, not for India. For the first time in the history of India, Indian Army announced that surgical strikes have been conducted along LOC and targeted 8 terror launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). This clearly depicts the message of Indian Army and the Government of India to the various terrorist groups that India won’t tolerate TERRORISM anymore. Many patriots and the families of martyrs of Uri and Pathankot attack would have felt tranquil as Indian Army made sure that they inflicted heavy causalities on terrorists and on those who were trying to protect them. It is great to see that India is finally responding in the same line of command as was used by Pakistan from past 50 years along the disputed line of control.
The DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh on Thursday said, “Significant casualties have been caused by terrorists and those trying to shield them. We don’t have a plan to further conduct such strikes. India has spoken to Pakistan.”
“… Now, based on very specific and credible information we received yesterday, that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along the LoC with an aim to carry out infiltration and terrorist strikes in J&K and various other metros in our country. There were launch pads at the LoC where terrorists were present waiting to infiltrate the nation and attack areas in Kashmir and metros across the country,” he added.
It is reported that no Indian causalities have occurred during the strike as informed by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence in the Press Conference which they jointly conducted.
The announcement of the strikes came right after a top-level meeting of the cabinet committee held on Security where PM Modi reviewed the situation and ordered this retaliatory action. In the meeting, Lt Gen Singh said that the operation was carried out based on a specific and credible intelligence information that terrorists were planning to cross over the LoC in order to carry out terrorist attacks in India. But Pakistan has denied that surgical strikes were carried out by the Indian Army. In a statement, the Pak Army has said that cross-border firing was conducted by India.
“We have recovered items including GPS which have Pakistani markings. Captured terrorists hailing from PoK or Pakistan have confessed to their training in Pakistan or in Pakistan-controlled region,” Singh said.
The President Of India Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President, and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were informed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the surgical strike. Also, Jammu and Kashmir Governor and CM Mehbooba Mufti was being informed about the strike.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh informed CM of Punjab, Odisha and West Bengal, CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury and Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad about surgical strikes.
The action has brought a sigh of relief for many Indian as now they see that India is all ready for a tough response to terrorism and their insecurity in the country would soon come to an end.
Meanwhile, Pakistan issued a statement which said: “At least two Army men were killed as Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire over the Line of Control in “Azad Jammu and Kashmir”. The exchange of fire began at 2:30am, ISPR said, and continued till 8:00am. “Pakistani troops befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing on the LoC in Bhimber, Hotspring Kel, and Lipa sectors.”
