Surgical strikes: India gave evidence of terror to Pak allies before operation

New Delhi: India took several steps to lay the groundwork for surgical strikes, and made sure several major countries knew about the increase in infiltration from Pakistan into India, before conducting the strikes across the Line of Control on Thursday.

According to a report, the government presented mounting evidence gathered by India including captured terrorists. The evidence was presented to the P-5 countries and key nations such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE, all allies of Pakistan.

Next, India launched a diplomatic-political offensive, which included giving information to the Pakistan envoy and responding to the country at the United Nations.

After Modi’s speech in Kerala, India re-examined the Indus Waters Treaty, and also decided to review Pakistan’s Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status.

DGMO Lt Gen Ranbir Singh was cautious, describing the surgical strikes as being ‘along the LoC’ but the operation was conducted across the LoC, said the report. Singh also immediately informed his Pakistani counterpart of the strikes, calling it a one-off and expressing sympathy for Pakistani soldiers killed. It was pitched as a counter-terror operation instead of a military strike, giving Pakistan less room to complain on the international stage and pressuring it to restrict retaliatory action. Nevertheless, India expects some retaliatory action from the enemy nation, said the report.

After the strikes, national security adviser Ajit Doval had a phone conversation with his US counterpart Susan Rice. The subsequent White House readout said that the US ‘strongly condemned the Uri attack’ instead of commenting on the strikes.

The government briefed the President, vice-president, former PM Manmohan Singh and the Kashmir leadership before going public with the news of the surgical strikes, said the report.