As the Indian PM Narendra Modi walked the talk, the Indian Army cracked down on the laboratory of terrorists clearly hinting at the prospect of more such strikes if Pakistan doesn’t mend its way.
In the wee hours of 29th September, 2016 the Indian Army launched a stinging attack targeting the terrorist camps across the LOC (Line of Control). Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi walked the talk, clearly anguished by the recent killings of 19 Army personnel in Uri. He had earlier commented that the Uri attackers will not go “unpunished” and that the sacrifice of 19 Indian soldiers will not go in vain.
The announcement of the strikes was made soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security which was attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and DGMO Singh.
As per the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) briefing, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, surgical strikes were conducted at 2AM. A large number of causalities have been reported on the Pakistani side, these surgical strikes were based on specific intelligence input of terror groups ready to infiltrate into India and carry out terror attacks. Seven terror launch pads were targeted across the LoC by the Special Forces of the Indian Army during this operation.
“Based on very credible and specific information which we received yesterday that some terrorist teams had positioned themselves at launch pads along the Line of Control with an aim to carry out infiltration and terrorist strikes in Jammu & Kashmir and in various other metros in our country, the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes last night at these launch pads”, Gen Singh told a news conference during which external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup was also present. Sharing details, Gen Singh also informed that the operations were basically focused to ensure that the terrorists do not succeed in their design of infiltration and carrying out destruction and endangering the lives of citizens of our country.
“The operations aimed at neutralising the terrorists have since ceased. We do not have any plans for continuation of further operations. However the Indian armed forces are fully prepared for any contingency that may arise,” he said. The DGMO also said he had spoken to the Pakistani director general of military operations and explained India’s concerns and also shared with him details of the operation.
However, Pakistan has denied that India carried out any strikes and says two of its soldiers were killed in cross-border shelling. Pakistan dismissed the Indian account as a lie. Shortly after the strikes, Pakistani newspaper The Dawn, citing the Inter Services Public Relations, said that two of their army men had been killed when Indian army troops indulged in cross-border firing in Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel, and Lipa sectors. The Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, condemned the “unprovoked and naked aggression of Indian forces”. Although Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif denied any surgical strike, India’s envoy officially informed Islamabad about the operation. In fact, Pakistan’s UN ambassador Maleeha Lodhi is set to meet UN chief Ban Ki-moon today to inform him about the “surgical strikes”. With tensions high between the two countries, the Indian government has readied contingency plans.
It is the first time the Indian army has publicly acknowledged that its troops have launched raids across the LOC. All the mainstream parties have hailed the army for carrying out surgical strikes against militant camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
India has also hit Pakistan with its diplomacy efforts and has been successful in isolating it. Especially at the South Asian Operation for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) level. Pakistan Foreign Ministry office has announced, postponing the SAARC Summit at Islamabad. Even after India’s announcement of not attending the summit, Pakistan was defiant about organizing the summit. SAARC’s other members Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan following India also have informed Nepal that they will not be attending the summit. They also have criticized and blamed Pakistan in the same note for the growing cross-border terror attacks. They have canceled the summit by saying, “the current regional environment is not conducive to the successful holding of the summit”. According to the Pakistan’s MEA Spokesperson “the summit cannot be organized even a single member is not attending the summit. So, it must be postponed”.
While pulling out of the SAARC summit is no doubt a stinging response to the terrorist attack in Uri, foreign policy experts have pointed out that this is just one step in Modi government’s long-term strategy to reconfigure regional cooperation to the exclusion of Pakistan. Indeed it is Pakistan’s ‘wrong policies’ and support to terrorism, which are highly responsible for global isolation.
by Ashwani Srivastava