The Indian Army said it had carried out surgical strikes on Pakistani terrorist camps positioned across the Line of Control (LoC) on Wednesday night.
Lt General Ranbir Singh, Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), held a joint press briefing with the MEA on Thursday morning, to announce this. He said that Indian forces led by a Special Operations Group led the operation & caused significant casualties to terrorists.
Indian Army conducted surgical strikes on terror launch pads on the LoC, significant casualties have been caused: DGMO
— ANI (@ANI_news) September 29, 2016
The Indian Army’s exercise is being praised as a response to Pakistan as well as for its execution. Combat veterans are generous in their praise, some of them even calling it one of the most important special forces operations any where in the world.
‘The operation was well-executed’
Army veteran Major Gaurav Arya told Times Now that the operation was done so professionally that it would serve as a benchmark and a case study for security forces globally.
Arya even compared it to the famed Operation Entebbe by Israel Defense Forces in 1976 in which Israeli commandos flew 2,000 miles into Africa to bring back more than 100 Jewish hostages whose plane had been hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists.
Retired Major General Gagandeep Bakshi who has served in Jammu and Kashmir for a large part of his career, called the operation “a focused, precise and just response to the Uri attack”.
“This is a message to the world that India cannot be taken for granted. Pakistan has been destabilising peace in the region and this was long over-due,” he said.
Statement by DGMO #IndianArmy on 29 Sep 16 pic.twitter.com/ckYOApWcHQ
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) September 29, 2016
‘It shows remarkable shift in India’s Pakistan policy’
Experts lauded the leadership of PM Narendra Modi for allowing the Army to take its course of action. While Arya congratulated the PM for “permitting” it.
Lt. General Shankar Prasad said the Army could do it because they did not have to wait for a special clearance in the dead of the night from the PM.
“Thank god they now have the government’s approval to carry out the operation when they want to do it,” Prasad told Times Now.
Prasad insisted that this operation shouldn’t be seen as a strategic response but a tactical one. “When India goes for a strategic response, it’ll be a well-considered and not a knee-jerk reaction.”
Former Army Chief General Bikram Singh told CNBC that while the operation has sent the right message to Pakistan, it shows the remarkable shift in the national policy towards Pakistan, a significantly far more “aggressive” one.
He maintained that there has been a marked difference in the government’s response to the recent attacks compared with earlier responses.
“Earlier, such operations would be held at the military level,” he said.
Bakshi says Pakistan can “either use their special forces for tit-for-tat operations or they can activate the Line of Control.”
“Whatever they do they will be given a hot reaction by India,” he said.
Bikram Singh says India will wait and watch.
“The army doesn’t intend to go beyond political will that has been charted out,” he said.
Prasad, on the other hand, warned Pakistan that this is not the last of the surgical strikes that India will be carrying out.
“If more launch pads are activated, the more the Army will strike,” he said.
