New Delhi: For the past few days, India has been aggressively trying to ramp up international pressure on Pakistan to take strong steps against terror emanating from its soil. But early Thursday morning, the Narendra Modi government sent a powerful message to Islamabad – that India was ready to walk the talk.
The Indian Army’s confirmation on the surgical strikes carried out by its troops against Pakistani terrorists along the Line of Control in Pak-occupied territory was the Modi government signalling that it is no longer ready to just sit and watch its jawans getting butchered by terrorists from Islamabad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed that the Uri attack, where 18 jawans lost their lives fighting terrorists, would not go unpunished. “I assure the nation that those behind this despicable attack will not go unpunished," Modi had said.
The promise was not hollow, five days later, with no signs of remorse or action from Pakistan, the surgical strikes were launched.
Read: India destroys terror launchpads in Pakistan in surgical strikes along border
The Modi-led government had tried to take the peaceful diplomatic path with Pakistan, but with Nawaz Sharif repeatedly trying to paint his country as the victim of terror, instead of taking concrete action to rein in terror, the surgical strikes have come as much needed action from the Indian.
Lt General Ranveer Singh, Director General of Military Operations said the surgical strikes were carried out in Bhimber, Hot Spring, Kel and Lipa sectors. He also informed the media that almost 20 infiltration attempts have been foiled by Army successfully this year.
Surgical strike is a swift attack undertaken by military on specific target which aims to neutralise them while ensuring minimum collateral damage to the surrounding areas and civilians, and return to primary positions. It also prevents escalation to a full blown war.
These attacks can be carried out via air raids, airdropping special operation teams or a ground operation. All three Indian armed forces have their separate special ops teams. It requires detailed and extensive planning to carry out surgical strikes and achieve the objective. External intelligence is vital to carry out these strikes.
The DGMO had clarified that the surgical strikes were based on specific inputs which indicated that terrorists were planning to attack Indian territory and that they have no plan to conduct more such strikes. He also spoke to his Pakistani counterpart to tell him about the surgical strikes and conveyed
India even pulled out of the SAARC summit scheduled to be held in November this year in Islamabad, to protest the Uri attack. The US has tried to de-escalate the tensions between the two countries but has sided with India, asking Pakistan to to combat terrorist entities, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, among others that operate from its soil.
